Is there a word in the English language (preferably a single word) that means "without permission"? As in, this sentence: "You have tampered with our work without permission." I've racked my brain and can't seem to come up with anything, and neither can the Internet. Any ideas?
I don't know I'd try to fit something in the precise wording of that sentence. A little rewording and more options present themselves.
Nope. The way you've worded the original sentence, what you need is an adverb. Without permission is modifying tampered, which is a verb. But.... I agree with @Steerpike. You're looking for something that doesn't exist in the exact specifications you're demanding. Reword it if you don't like without permission.
Illicitly? But I agree that it's hard to fit any adverb like what you're looking for into that sentence.
This, as it stands, implies the lack of permission. You don't even need 'have' in there. I can't imagine making this statement to someone who had permission, to be honest.
Actually this ^^ seems just about perfect. Maintains the tone you want while being parsimonious about it, and you don't need to rewrite the sentence from scratch.
I would vote for @Steerpike's 'unauthorised.' Unauthorised doesn't necessarily mean permission has been refused. It just means permission has not been granted. There is a difference. Mind you, it all depends on context. You have made unauthorised changes to our work. (By the way, I'm using the British spelling here ...unauthorised. Steerpike uses the American spelling of the same word ...unauthorized. Both are correct, depending on which version of English you are using.)
Very helpful, all of it. I guess I was trying to be complex because I was going for a "high" or "lofty" manner of speaking, like medieval-speak (which, when I attempt it, quickly turns into Pythonese). I think that "tampered" works well enough, or "without permission". "Have" is sort of a redundancy of the past-tense, but... I am confusing myself.
Douglas Adams is my hero. The only thing that's ever even come close to my love for him is The Stanley Parable. (if you haven't seen it before, here's a link.)
I've decided to work around this problem in a clever way. You have tampered with our work without permission. You have altered our work without permission.