delegitimize
Americanverb (used with object)
verb
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of delegitimize
Explanation
When we delegitimize something, we remove or reduce its legal status or validity. To promote safe driving, we have delegitimized speeding and riding without a fastened seatbelt. If officials decide to delegitimize a dangerous chemical, they may ban it from use in consumer products to keep the public safe. Delegitimize can also refer to trying to undermine the prestige or authority of someone or something. For instance, accusations of wrongdoing against someone can delegitimize that person's reputation and work, even if the allegations are proven to be untrue later on.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
The idea wasn’t to subsume or co-opt the radicals, but to delegitimize them.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 6, 2025
When a stitch isn’t working, or I mess up the seam, I’ll delegitimize myself a little bit and think I’m a fraud because I’m having people pay me for this.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 8, 2025
"I think what's happening here is trying to delegitimize him," Graham said.
From Salon ● Jun. 12, 2023
“We strongly reject these accusations and refuse to accept bad-faith attempts to delegitimize artists and preventively censor them on the basis of their ethnic heritage and presumed political positions.”
From New York Times ● Jun. 10, 2022
The cultural boycott of South Africa from the 1960s through the 1980s helped to delegitimize the apartheid government of the era.
From Slate ● Mar. 9, 2022
The 2008 financial crisis delegitimized global capitalism for many people.
From New York Times ● Apr. 8, 2022
I have no interest in seeing Israel delegitimized.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 1, 2021
Jen became very upset with me and told me that my decision to be neutral delegitimized her feelings.
From Slate ● Mar. 13, 2019
Some people emphasize economic issues: The simultaneous concentration of wealth at the top and the stagnation in the middle has delegitimized the system.
From Seattle Times ● Jan. 12, 2018
The revolutionaries’ rhetoric delegitimized and dehumanized their opponents.
From Salon ● Jul. 4, 2017
The objective of PSI 2.0 should be to sweep oil-tanker ghost fleets from the seas entirely, delegitimizing them across the board, by interdictions, seizures and financial and commercial means.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 18, 2026
“Censoring or delegitimizing questions deemed ‘uncomfortable’ does not fall within the practice of democracy,” Polidoro wrote.
From Salon ● Oct. 17, 2025
Tom Southerden of Amnesty International said Thursday that talk of mob rule “wildly exaggerates the issue and risks delegitimizing the rights of peaceful protest.”
From Seattle Times ● Feb. 29, 2024
“The pandemic had the effect of delegitimizing management in every which way,” said Nelson Lichtenstein, who teaches labor history at UC Santa Barbara.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 11, 2023
In a broad sense, they risk delegitimizing the idea of a public defense.
From Slate ● Jun. 20, 2014
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
