legitimize
verb (used with object)
to make legitimate.
had legitimized
-
past perfectof legitimize.past perfect
Used to express a completed action that took place before another specific past action occurred.
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.
None believed that Jongen’s presence had legitimized his ideas; he hadn’t been awarded an honorary degree.
From The Guardian ● Oct. 31, 2017
But women’s lives in the West also rarely fit with the nineteenth-century ideology of “separate spheres” that had legitimized the exclusion of women from the rough-and-tumble party competitions of public politics.
From Textbooks ● Dec. 30, 2014
Mr. Langner is among the experts who expressed fear that the attack had legitimized a new form of industrial warfare, one to which the United States is also highly vulnerable.
From New York Times ● Jan. 16, 2011
