legitimize
Americanverb (used with object)
-
legitimizes,
present (3rd person singular)
-
legitimized,
past participle, past
-
legitimizing
present participle
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
legitimizesimple
-
legitimizessimple
-
have legitimizedperfect
-
has legitimizedperfect
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am legitimizingprogressive
-
are legitimizingprogressive
-
is legitimizingprogressive
-
have been legitimizingperfect progressive
-
has been legitimizingperfect progressive
Past
-
legitimizedsimple
-
had legitimizedperfect
-
was legitimizingprogressive
-
were legitimizingprogressive
-
had been legitimizingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of legitimize
First recorded in 1645–55; from Latin lēgitim(us) ( see 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.
Vocabulary lists containing legitimize
Vocabulary from "Stop Expecting Games to Build Empathy" by Julie Muncy
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The Stranger
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Words From the Final 2020 Presidential Debate
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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:
The move is one of the boldest yet to legitimize the billions of dollars worth of gold unearthed by informal miners, a business often associated with worker exploitation and environmental damage.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 21, 2026
They appeared on “The Tonight Show” and “The Carol Burnett Show,” and were among the first crews to legitimize the art form by making a living from it.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 31, 2026
“The Church cannot remain silent when violence is justified in the name of security or when religious language is used to legitimize it,” saying that the church must “defend moral clarity.”
From Salon ● Apr. 14, 2026
Still, the license it received Tuesday helps Oklo legitimize its business model as it pursues the commercial production of power by 2028.
From Barron's ● Mar. 18, 2026
“When I want mountains made out of molehills, when I want to legitimize their puerile actions by paying attention to them, I’ll let you know.”
From "The Milagro Beanfield War" by John Nichols
The diplomatic source stressed that Russia's G20 presence "in no way legitimizes its actions."
From Barron's ● Oct. 30, 2026
“Having the same last name legitimizes our family status it seems,” Glatzel said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 12, 2026
Fighting Tyson legitimizes him even more, and if Paul’s able to win, it’s likely to propel him to a world title fight.
From Salon ● Nov. 15, 2024
It argued that the web designer’s victory in that case legitimizes the termination of a female counselor who is married to another woman due to the high school’s freedom of speech.
From Slate ● Jul. 25, 2023
Confiding in the sanctity of a tie which her religion legitimizes, she is aware that we must conceal it from the eyes of the world, like any secret marriage.
From French and Oriental Love in a Harem by Paul Avril
“StubHub legitimized a business that had historically been run by bad actors,” said Randy Nichols, an artist manager and music-industry consultant.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 11, 2026
“Seeing Peggy get her Cinderella moment legitimized her as one of the romantic leads of the show,” Benton says.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 25, 2025
The genre doesn’t need to be legitimized by awards voting bodies because it already has a growing army of dedicated viewers, curious enough to roll the dice and spend their hard-earned cash on risk-taking filmmaking.
From Salon ● Oct. 23, 2025
The court is where these ideas are hatched, and it is legitimized in ways that allow Miller to go all out, 110 percent, every time.
From Slate ● Sep. 29, 2025
“Biko, wear something nice. Kainene will be dressing up too,” her mother had added, as if mentioning her twin sister somehow legitimized everything.
From "Half of a Yellow Sun" by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Rather than serving as "an impartial chronographic work," the researchers suggest it may instead have functioned as "a legitimizing canon of kings, which was periodically updated to remove short-lived or parallel Neo-Assyrian rulers."
From Science Daily ● Aug. 26, 2026
Luis Rivera, executive director of the nonprofit, said Measure CB risks legitimizing the illegal cannabis industry while linking city finances to the tax revenue the businesses would generate.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 1, 2026
Renewed U.S. government interest and new quantum AI models from Nvidia are legitimizing the quantum computing space.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 27, 2026
But conciliation carries the risk of legitimizing the court’s most indefensible actions.
From Slate ● Jul. 8, 2025
The discovery of America was crucial in legitimizing innovation because within forty years no one disputed that it really was an unprecedented event, and one that could not be ignored.
From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton
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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.
