legitimist

American  

[li-jit-uh-mist] / lɪˈdʒɪt ə mɪst /

noun

1. a supporter of legitimate authority, especially of a claim to a throne based on direct descent.

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adjective

1. Also legitimistic of, relating to, or supporting legitimate authority.

legitimist British  

/ lɪˈdʒɪtɪmɪst /

noun

1. a monarchist who supports the rule of a legitimate dynasty or of its senior branch

2. (formerly) a supporter of the elder line of the Bourbon family in France

3. a supporter of legitimate authority

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adjective

1. of or relating to legitimists

Other Word Forms

• legitimism
  noun

Etymology

Origin of legitimist

1835–45; < Latin lēgitim ( us ) lawful ( see legitim) + -ist, modeled on French légitimiste

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

legitimist

Joseph de Maistre was "a fierce absolutist, a furious theocrat, an intransigent legitimist ... always and everywhere the champion of the hardest, narrowest and most inflexible dogmatism."

From Salon ● Jul. 1, 2023

But while the senate thus publicly and solemnly proclaimed its legitimist sentiments in the name of the French people, it at the same time testified to its own unworthiness and selfishness.

From Queen Hortense A Life Picture of the Napoleonic Era by Mühlbach, L. (Luise)

Not because atheists and communists are related to the catholic and legitimist, but because they are more alien to him than the protestant and the liberal, because they are outside his circle.

From Selected Essays by Stenning, H. J.

I believe I am the only legitimist in the island—save a few priests and nuns, and they don't count.

From The Lady Paramount by Harland, Henry

The third brother, John, who had advanced his own claims before his brother’s retraction, now came forward as the representative of the legitimist and Carlist cause.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 5, Slice 3 "Capefigue" to "Carneades" by Various