In the sentence 'The corrupt politician accepted illicit payments from corporations,' ILLICIT most nearly means:

ILLICIT means not legally permitted; forbidden by law, rules, or custom. Context clue: 'corrupt politician accepting payments from corporations' — clearly negative and likely illegal. From Latin 'in-' (not) + 'licitus' (allowed). Synonyms: illegal, unlawful, forbidden, prohibited, illegitimate. Antonyms: legal, lawful, permitted, sanctioned. Don't confuse with: ELICIT (verb — to draw out or evoke, like 'elicit a response') — sounds similar but completely different meaning and part of speech. Other 'il-' (or 'in-' or 'im-' — variations of the same prefix meaning 'not') words: IMPOSSIBLE, IRREGULAR, INCAPABLE, ILLOGICAL, IRRELEVANT. The prefix 'il-' is used before 'l' (illegal, illogical, illicit); 'ir-' before 'r' (irregular, irrelevant); 'im-' before 'b/m/p' (impossible, immature, imprudent); 'in-' before vowels and other consonants (incapable, insane). All mean 'not.'