legitimately

adverb

le·​git·​i·​mate·​ly li-ˈji-tə-mət-lē 

: in a legitimate manner : according to what is lawful, permitted, appropriate, or reasonable

money earned legitimately [=legally]

a question that can be legitimately asked

… objects of ritual significance that were common tribal property seldom if ever could have come legitimately into nontribal hands.

—Robert McC. Adams

The other kind of steroids are the potent inflammation fighters widely and legitimately used to treat dozens of illnesses.

—Paul G. Donohue

… several objections to their book can legitimately be raised.

—Christopher Lehmann-Haupt

Examples of legitimately in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

When something legitimately changes, such as the team migrating to a new design system, semantic understanding can re-resolve the intent against the new DOM. — Asad Khan, Forbes.com, 28 July 2026

The spread is $36 and feeds up to five people, which is a legitimately good deal for a group hang. — Melissa Oyler, Charlotte Observer, 22 July 2026

Each had a version similar to the Spanish churro, probably the only one that can legitimately claim the origin of this tradition. — Sarah Moreno updated July 18, Miami Herald, 18 July 2026

Mike Tyson is legitimately stunned to discover that Shohei Ohtani is a guy. — Zach Dean Outkick, FOXNews.com, 16 July 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1593, in the meaning defined above