1 a : qualities (as adherence to duty or obedience to lawful authority) that together constitute the ideal of moral propriety or merit moral approval
b : something that is morally just
- able to distinguish right from wrong
2 : something to which one has a just claim: as
a : a power, privilege, or condition of existence to which one has a natural claim of enjoyment or possession
- the right of liberty
- that all men…are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights
- —Declaration of Independence
— see also natural right
b : a power, privilege, immunity, or capacity the enjoyment of which is secured to a person by law
- one’s constitutional rights
c : a legally enforceable claim against another that the other will do or will not do a given act
- the defendant may be under a legal duty…to exercise reasonable care for the plaintiff’s safety, so that the plaintiff has a corresponding legal right to insist on that care
- —W. L. Prosser and W. P. Keeton
d : the interest that one has in property : a claim or title to property —often used in pl.
- leasing mineral rights
— see also real right
e plural : the interest in property possessed (as under copyright law) in an intangible thing and especially an item of intellectual property
- obtained publishing rights
3 : a privilege given stockholders to subscribe pro rata to a new issue of securities generally below market price
—
rightful
play \-fəl\ adjective
—
rightfully
play \-fə-lē\ adverb
— of right
1 : as an absolute right
2 : demandable or enforceable under the law
- an appeal of right