legitimize

American  

[li-jit-uh-mahyz] / lɪˈdʒɪt əˌmaɪz /

especially British, legitimise especially british, legitimatize,

verb (used with object)

legitimized, legitimizing

1. to make legitimate.

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legitimize British  

/ lɪˈdʒɪtɪməˌtaɪz, lɪˈdʒɪtɪˌmaɪz /

verb

1. (tr) to make legitimate; legalize

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Other Word Forms

• legitimization noun

Etymology

Origin of legitimize

First recorded in 1645–55; from Latin lēgitim(us) ( legitim ) + -ize

Explanation

When you legitimize something, you officially approve it, or make it legal. For example, a 1967 Supreme Court case legitimized interracial marriage in the United States. The verb legitimize is very similar to legalize, although there are some slight differences between the two. When you legalize something, you also legitimize it — it's permitted, or allowed. But when you legitimize something, it doesn't always involve the legal system. For example, your teacher might legitimize open-book tests or your boss could legitimize bringing dogs to work.

Example Sentences

Making the case to other nations helps legitimize the mission and its necessity.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 18, 2026

While an MoU is no more than a non-binding agreement, the pact built on both countries’ efforts to legitimize quantum computing.

From Barron's • Mar. 17, 2026

That authority must be used to heal—not to legitimize practices that medicine itself has rejected.

From Slate • Mar. 11, 2026

Flaunting their knighthood as a mark of status but discarding it the moment it requires true honor, they treat their vows only as an invented tradition, a set of rituals to legitimize their own power.

From Salon • Feb. 25, 2026

Thus they legitimize a profoundly anachronistic reading of the dispute between Hobbes and Boyle by placing their own view of that dispute into the mouth of Hobbes.

From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton

Related Words

• codify
• constitute
• decriminalize
• legislate
• regulate