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 ( legitim ) + -ist, modeled on French légitimiste

Example Sentences

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

He is thus a legitimist with a difference.

From A Short History of French Literature by Saintsbury, George

He expressed himself in somewhat choice phraseology, with polite, easy manners; he was tolerably well informed, his political opinions being legitimist, and he could take his part as first violin in an amateur quartette.

From The Mysteries of Paris, Volume 4 of 6 by Sue, Eugène

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

The Duke d'Orleans, Louis Phillipe's son, scarcely dared to enter the brilliant, highly aristocratic, and purely legitimist saloon of the Countess Appony, wife of the Austrian Ambassador.

From Diary from November 12, 1862, to October 18, 1863 by De Gurowski, Adam G., count