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illegitimate

[adjective, noun il-i-jit-uh-mit; verb il-i-jit-uh-meyt]
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adjective
  1. born of parents who are not married to each other; born out of wedlock: an illegitimate child.
  2. not legitimate; not sanctioned by law or custom.
  3. unlawful; illegal: an illegitimate action.
  4. irregular; not in good usage.
  5. Logic. not in accordance with the principles of valid inference.
  6. Obsolete. (formerly, in London)
    1. of or relating to stage plays in which musical numbers were inserted because of laws that gave only a few theaters the exclusive right to produce straight dramas.
    2. acting in or producing such productions.
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noun
  1. a person recognized or looked upon as illegitimate.
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verb (used with object), il·le·git·i·mat·ed, il·le·git·i·mat·ing.
  1. to declare illegitimate.
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Origin of illegitimate

First recorded in 1530–40; il-2 + legitimate
Related formsil·le·git·i·mate·ly, adverbil·le·git·i·mate·ness, il·le·git·i·ma·tion, noun

Synonyms

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2, 3. See illegal.
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words

unjustlywronglyunjustifiablyillicitlyillegitimately

Examples from the Web for illegitimately

Historical Examples

  • In many ways the position of the illegitimately born child, always sufficiently bad, has been rendered worse under war conditions.

    Women's Wild Oats

    C. Gasquoine Hartley

  • The English law has always looked with great disfavor on the illegitimately born child.

    Women's Wild Oats

    C. Gasquoine Hartley

  • Every illegitimately born child would be placed in a position of safety.

    Women's Wild Oats

    C. Gasquoine Hartley

  • That is not the case, unless we give the word disease an inconveniently and illegitimately wide extension.

  • If it cannot have representation legitimately, it will try to get it illegitimately or extra legitimately.

British Dictionary definitions for illegitimately

illegitimate

adjective
  1. born of parents who were not married to each other at the time of birth; bastard
  2. forbidden by law; illegal; unlawful
  3. contrary to logic; incorrectly reasoned
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noun
  1. an illegitimate person; bastard
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Derived Formsillegitimacy or illegitimateness, nounillegitimately, adverb
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for illegitimately

illegitimate

adj.

1530s, "born out of wedlock," formed in English (and replacing earlier illegitime, c.1500), modeled on Latin illegitimus "not legitimate" (see il- + legitimate). Sense of "unauthorized, unwarranted" is from 1640s. Phrase illegitimi non carborundum, usually "translated" as "don't let the bastards grind you down," is fake Latin (by 1965, said to date from c.1939) (Carborundum was a brand of abrasives).

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper