legitimate

verb

le·​git·​i·​mate li-ˈji-tə-ˌmāt 

legitimated; legitimating

transitive verb

: to make (someone or something) legitimate (see legitimate entry 1):

a(1)

: to give legal status or authorization to

(2)

: to show or affirm to be justified

(3)

: to lend authority or respectability to

b

: to give (a child born out of wedlock) the same legal status as a child born in wedlock

legitimation

li-ˌji-tə-ˈmā-shən 

noun

legitimator

li-ˈji-tə-ˌmā-tər 

noun

Examples of legitimate in a Sentence

Which comes first, the desire to legitimate euthanasia or the nullifying of a distinction between killing and allowing to die? —Daniel Callahan, Commonweal, 2 June 2000

Poland has ceased being a nation with even a pretense of Communist rule, a rule that is legitimated by Marxist ideology. —Irving Kristol, Wall Street Journal, 11 Jan. 1982

… they are more concerned with the ways in which schools and colleges legitimate and maintain inequality than with the ways they devalue and restrict personal autonomy. —Christopher Jencks, New York Times Book Review, 15 Feb. 1976

slang words legitimated by usage

Her tendency to be secretive only serves to legitimate their suspicions.

Recent Examples on the Web

The only path from bubble team to legitimate Stanley Cup contender requires making major upgrades at a faster rate than the stars’ decline. —Shayna Goldman, New York Times, 19 May 2026

American history either ignores or stereotypes Indigenous peoples for the purpose of legitimating the US. —Tim Brinkhof, JSTOR Daily, 22 Apr. 2026

Herman and Chomsky took this a step further in their 1988 book Manufacturing Consent, arguing that the mainstream media was unwittingly complicit in a propaganda campaign to legitimate capitalism and U.S. imperialism overseas. —Encyclopedia Britannica, 21 Apr. 2026

The post-pandemic violent-crime wave and the concurrent public-transit-funding crisis helped legitimate the two reasons BART said a crackdown on fare-evasion was necessary in the first place. —Henry Grabar, The Atlantic, 20 Apr. 2026

Word History

Etymology

First Known Use

15th century, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for legitimate

• illegitimate

Kids Definition

legitimate

1 of 2 adjective

le·​git·​i·​mate li-ˈjit-ə-mət 

1

: born of parents who are married

legitimate children

2

: lawful

a legitimate claim

3

: being in keeping with what is right or with standards

a legitimate excuse

legitimately adverb

legitimate

2 of 2 verb

le·​git·​i·​mate li-ˈjit-ə-ˌmāt 

legitimated; legitimating

: to make lawful or legal

legitimation

-ˌjit-ə-ˈmā-shən 

noun

Legal Definition

legitimate

1 of 2 adjective

le·​git·​i·​mate lə-ˈji-tə-mət 

1

: conceived or born of parents lawfully married to each other or having been made through legal procedure equal in status to one so conceived or born

also : having rights and obligations under the law as the child of such birth

2

: being neither spurious nor false

a legitimate grievance

3

: being in accordance with law or with established legal forms and requirements

a legitimate government

4

: conforming to recognized principles or accepted rules and standards

a legitimate claim of entitlement

a legitimate business reason

legitimately adverb

legitimate

2 of 2 transitive verb

le·​git·​i·​mate lə-ˈji-tə-ˌmāt 

legitimated; legitimating

: to make legitimate: as

a

: to give legal status or authorization to

b

: to show or affirm to be justified or have merit

c

: to put (an illegitimate child) in the state of a child born of married parents before the law by legal means compare filiate

legitimation

lə-ˌji-tə-ˈmā-shən 

noun

Etymology

Medieval Latin legitimatus, past participle of legitimare to give legal status to, from Latin legitimus legally sanctioned, from leg-, lex law