illegitimate

adjective

il·​le·​git·​i·​mate ˌi-li-ˈji-tə-mət How to pronounce illegitimate (audio)
1
a
: not recognized as lawful offspring
b
: born of parents not married to each other
2
a
: not sanctioned by law : illegal
b
: not authorized by good usage
c
of a taxon : published but not in accordance with the rules of the relevant international code
3
: not rightly deduced or inferred : illogical
4
: departing from the regular : erratic
illegitimately adverb

Examples of illegitimate in a Sentence

She thinks that my concerns are illegitimate. They were fired from their jobs for illegitimate reasons.
Recent Examples on the Web Democrats argued that the Kremlin’s support rendered Trump an illegitimate leader; Trump and his allies claimed that the intelligence agencies were part of a deep-state conspiracy against him. David D. Kirkpatrick, The New Yorker, 21 Oct. 2024 In 2021, Qanon followers recycled this claim to argue that President Biden’s inauguration was actually illegitimate. Sarah Emerson, Forbes, 17 Oct. 2024 While the Taiwanese government insisted that the communist revolution made Mao’s rule over the mainland illegitimate and sought international recognition as the actual successor state to historic China, the global community has long since acknowledged the legitimacy of the Chinese Communist Party. Timothy Nerozzi, Washington Examiner - Political News and Conservative Analysis About Congress, the President, and the Federal Government, 14 Oct. 2024 Agents interviewed Sun about the packages and told him the devices were illegitimate. Krystal Nurse, USA TODAY, 5 Oct. 2024 See all Example Sentences for illegitimate 

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'illegitimate.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

First Known Use

1536, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

Time Traveler
The first known use of illegitimate was in 1536

Dictionary Entries Near illegitimate

Cite this Entry

“Illegitimate.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/illegitimate. Accessed 31 Oct. 2024.

Kids Definition

illegitimate

adjective
il·​le·​git·​i·​mate ˌil-i-ˈjit-ə-mət How to pronounce illegitimate (audio)
1
: born of a father and mother who are not married
2
illegitimately adverb

Legal Definition

illegitimate

adjective
il·​le·​git·​i·​mate ˌi-li-ˈji-tə-mət How to pronounce illegitimate (audio)
1
: not recognized by the law as offspring
specifically : born out of marriage

Note: An illegitimate child is usually legitimated by his or her parents' later marriage. Illegitimate children generally have the same inheritance rights under intestate successions as legitimate children; statutes limiting their inheritance rights have been found to violate the equal protection clause.

2
: not valid according to law
illegitimate noun

More from Merriam-Webster on illegitimate

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