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:
It is an attempt to delegitimize an entire category of work — and the irony is almost too neat.
From Salon ● Apr. 25, 2026
The idea wasn’t to subsume or co-opt the radicals, but to delegitimize them.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 6, 2025
Run by the husband-and-wife team of Tom Clare and Libby Locke, the firm had helped popularize efforts by wealthy and powerful clients to attack news organizations and delegitimize or kill unfavorable articles.
From New York Times ● Apr. 10, 2024
“It was always, then as now, designed to be an opening wedge in an effort to delegitimize whatever it was for everyone.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 7, 2023
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
"They will just say or do anything to get rid of me. It delegitimized the entire review process. When I got that denial, I was crushed."
From Salon ● Feb. 2, 2023
I have no interest in seeing Israel delegitimized.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 1, 2021
“These were practices that in some form delegitimized our fight,” he went on.
From New York Times ● Mar. 6, 2021
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
Sometimes other parts of computing—like design or human-computer interaction—are delegitimized, considered less rigorous or less important.
From Slate ● Jun. 15, 2016
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
Polidoro’s statement also said, “Censoring or delegitimizing questions considered ‘uncomfortable’ does not fall within the practice of democracy.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 9, 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
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.
