legitimize
Americanverb (used with object)
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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
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legitimizessimple
-
have legitimizedperfect
-
has legitimizedperfect
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am legitimizingprogressive
-
are legitimizingprogressive
-
is legitimizingprogressive
-
have been legitimizingperfect progressive
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has been legitimizingperfect progressive
Past
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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
Since then, the company has worked to legitimize itself further.
From Barron's ● May 27, 2026
That authority must be used to heal—not to legitimize practices that medicine itself has rejected.
From Slate ● Mar. 11, 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
But today no major medical association legitimizes excited delirium.
From Seattle Times ● Apr. 26, 2024
It also makes up two minutes and 20 seconds of a nearly two-hour movie – a triumphant peak in a performance throughout which Ferrera’s Gloria legitimizes Barbie as a power fantasy.
From Salon ● Jan. 24, 2024
In Scotland the marriage of the mother with the father legitimizes the child.
From Women's Wild Oats Essays on the Re-fixing of Moral Standards by C. Gasquoine (Catherine Gasquoine) Hartley
It was the centerpiece of a landmark Disney deal, which legitimized artificial intelligence for Hollywood royalty.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 29, 2026
“It legitimized my nerd-dom,” he explained with a laugh.
From Salon ● Feb. 20, 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 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
The fact that he seemed scared of the lady he had met in the woods legitimized his story a lot.
From "Fablehaven" by Brandon Mull
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
Quantum companies are also legitimizing themselves by continuing to execute on the technology development milestones in their public road maps, said John McPeake, senior research analyst at Rosenblatt Securities.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 27, 2026
“We also have a new technology sphere that’s opening up. It’s legitimizing this need, because modern warfare is extremely different and much more technical than any form of warfare we’ve seen before.”
From Salon ● Mar. 23, 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.
