legitimate
Americanadjective
-
according to law; lawful.
the property's legitimate owner.
- Antonyms:
- illegitimate
-
in accordance with established rules, principles, or standards.
- Synonyms:
- sanctioned
-
born in wedlock or of legally married parents.
legitimate children.
-
in accordance with the laws of reasoning; logically inferable; logical.
a legitimate conclusion.
- Synonyms:
- valid
-
resting on or ruling by the principle of hereditary right.
a legitimate sovereign.
-
not spurious or unjustified; genuine.
It was a legitimate complaint.
-
of the normal or regular type or kind.
-
Theater. of or relating to professionally produced stage plays, as distinguished from burlesque, vaudeville, television, motion pictures, etc..
an actor in the legitimate theater.
verb (used with object)
-
legitimates,
present (3rd person singular)
-
legitimated,
past participle, past
-
legitimating
present participle
-
to make lawful or legal; pronounce or state as lawful.
Parliament legitimated his accession to the throne.
- Synonyms:
- legalize
-
to establish as lawfully born.
His bastard children were afterward legitimated by law.
-
to show or declare to be legitimate or proper.
He was under obligation to legitimate his commission.
-
to justify; sanction or authorize.
His behavior was legitimated by custom.
noun
-
the legitimate, the legitimate theater or drama.
-
a person who is established as being legitimate.
adjective
-
born in lawful wedlock; enjoying full filial rights
-
conforming to established standards of usage, behaviour, etc
-
based on correct or acceptable principles of reasoning
-
reasonable, sensible, or valid
a legitimate question
-
authorized, sanctioned by, or in accordance with law
-
of, relating to, or ruling by hereditary right
a legitimate monarch
-
of or relating to a body of famous long-established plays as distinct from films, television, vaudeville, etc
the legitimate theatre
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
-
delegitimationnoun
-
legitimacynoun
-
legitimatenessnoun
-
legitimationnoun
-
postlegitimationnoun
-
delegitimateverb (used with object)
-
nonlegitimateadjective
-
quasi-legitimateadjective
-
legitimatelyadverb
-
quasi-legitimatelyadverb
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
legitimatesimple
-
legitimatessimple
-
have legitimatedperfect
-
has legitimatedperfect
-
am legitimatingprogressive
-
are legitimatingprogressive
-
is legitimatingprogressive
-
have been legitimatingperfect progressive
-
has been legitimatingperfect progressive
Past
-
legitimatedsimple
-
had legitimatedperfect
-
was legitimatingprogressive
-
were legitimatingprogressive
-
had been legitimatingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of legitimate
First recorded in 1485–95, legitimate is from the Medieval Latin word lēgitimātus (past participle of lēgitimāre to make lawful). See legitim, -ate 1
Explanation
Something legitimate is the real deal — according to the law. Legitimate has other variations of meaning. To legitimate something is to make it legal, either by passing a law or publicly recognizing it as in accordance with the law. A government can be legitimized by being invited to world talks, or a movie by winning a prestigious award.
Vocabulary lists containing legitimate
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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:
Address legitimate concerns and fears but be clear about what the potential benefits are.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 5, 2026
A legitimate critic doesn’t stumble into the job just to point and laugh; they write because they have real passion for what they cover.
From Salon ● Nov. 5, 2026
"It's absolutely legitimate for this government to ask the business if they're doing everything they can to protect employees and suppliers up and down the country," she added.
From BBC ● Nov. 4, 2026
One will be legitimate, and the other will be illegitimate.
From Slate ● Oct. 29, 2026
The boy king on the Iron Throne had made Lord Ramsay legitimate, giving him the right to use his lord father’s name.
From "A Dance with Dragons" by George R. R. Martin
“But someone like Carlson is also important because he legitimates those ideas, making them seem less radical when viewers see them.”
From New York Times ● May 15, 2022
In his book Pyramids of Sacrifice, Berger writes that the "elite almost invariably legitimates its privileged position in terms of alleged benefits it is bestowing or getting ready to bestow upon 'the people.'"
From Salon ● Oct. 7, 2021
“Selling them solidifies and legitimates the selling of our trauma,” she said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 7, 2021
“When ‘winning’ becomes everything, and winning means dehumanizing the other side for short‐term gain, it legitimates increasingly extreme behavior on both sides,” Mr. Drutman said.
From Washington Times ● Nov. 5, 2020
“Well, then,” says I, “necessity legitimates my advice, for it is the only way to save our lives.”
From Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe
The market was legitimated by its own success, as experienced in people's daily lives.
From Salon ● May 7, 2020
Sometimes efforts to appease racism in the electorate have deprived fascists of support; in other cases they have legitimated fascism.
From Slate ● Apr. 3, 2017
The graffiti is first; Klara’s more culturally legitimated art comes after.
From The Guardian ● Aug. 21, 2015
No. No, the only absolutely clear legacy of JFK’s slaying is that it legitimated the conspiracy theorists.
From Time ● Nov. 19, 2013
To all appearance, the political error which legitimated scarcity would have never been put an end to by them.
From Chambers's Edinburgh Journal, No. 450 Volume 18, New Series, August 14, 1852 by Robert Chambers
When their daughter became Elizabeth I in 1558, she restored Anne’s title and Anne’s image joined the legitimating Tudor lineup that proliferated in the long galleries of Elizabethan and Jacobean England.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 22, 2026
As sociologist David Garland argues, their litigation strategy had the “unintended effect of legitimating capital punishment” and being a force for its conservation.
From Slate ● Oct. 1, 2024
"After legitimating his position in broader Israeli circles, he will proceed to the realms that not all agree on - namely the West Bank," Asa-El said.
From Reuters ● Dec. 30, 2022
James Baldwin was right in connecting the long durée of economic and racial injustice to the legitimating power of ideas and education.
From Salon ● Jul. 3, 2021
Hence, in both parties concerned, a variety of reasons, contemptible in our eyes, excellent in their own, against legitimating their connection.
From The Countess of Albany by Vernon Lee
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
