as in to enable
to make something real, accepted, or official
slang words legitimized by usage
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of legitimize
The mayor himself will arrive this morning ahead of his afternoon one-on-one with Leo, the first American — and Chicago-born — pope, whose advocacy on immigrant rights and historic apology on Monday for the Holy See’s role in legitimizing slavery will be top of the list for Johnson to discuss.
—
Alice Yin, Chicago Tribune, 28 May 2026
Strong suggests legitimizing and standardizing station tattoos, making a design readily available if deputies want to pay homage to their workplace, as other departments across the nation do.
—Sierra Van Der Brug, Daily News, 28 May 2026
Social integrity asks what AI legitimizes as knowledge and truth.
—Hamilton Mann, Forbes.com, 27 May 2026
Being a member of a paramilitary group does not legitimize his murder, and soldiers and Ministry of Interior officers alike are now being killed in indiscriminate American and Israeli airstrikes.
—Nabil Salih, Time, 26 May 2026
See All Example Sentences for legitimize
Alice Yin, Chicago Tribune, 28 May 2026
Strong suggests legitimizing and standardizing station tattoos, making a design readily available if deputies want to pay homage to their workplace, as other departments across the nation do.
—Sierra Van Der Brug, Daily News, 28 May 2026
Social integrity asks what AI legitimizes as knowledge and truth.
—Hamilton Mann, Forbes.com, 27 May 2026
Being a member of a paramilitary group does not legitimize his murder, and soldiers and Ministry of Interior officers alike are now being killed in indiscriminate American and Israeli airstrikes.
—Nabil Salih, Time, 26 May 2026
See All Example Sentences for legitimize
Recent Examples of Synonyms for legitimize
Verb
-
Inexplicably, six Republicans in the Assembly and one in the Senate agreed to vote for AB 1768, thereby allowing many Democrats to skip the politically risky vote to enable yet another tax hike on working people.—
Susan Shelley,
Daily News,
10 June 2026
-
Iturmendi believes the solid-state batteries will enable these missions on a single charge.—
Chris Young,
Interesting Engineering,
10 June 2026
Verb
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The groups argued that the site of the garden runs afoul of federal laws and has not been authorized by Congress.—
Swapna Venugopal Ramaswamy,
USA Today,
17 June 2026
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In March, a state appellate court ruled that an oversight body in Sonoma County is legally authorized to subpoena the county Sheriff’s Office and directed the office to comply with the body’s subpoenas for whistleblower inquiry records.—
Connor Sheets,
Los Angeles Times,
17 June 2026
Verb
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When reviewing applications, look for indicators that a candidate has invested in developing and validating their expertise.—
Johnny C. Taylor Jr,
USA Today,
10 June 2026
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And episode four’s backstory basically validates her entire childhood and a life full of paranoia, which is very satisfying.—
Brian Davids,
HollywoodReporter,
10 June 2026
Verb
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Private institutions are entitled to set their own missions and follow their own values.—
The Atlantic,
The Atlantic,
16 June 2026
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On that ground alone, he is entitled to a new trial.—
Kelsie Cairns,
FOXNews.com,
16 June 2026
Verb
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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
Verb
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His performances during World Cup qualifying shouldn’t be taken as a predictor of future performance, but Haaland was undeniably prolific while scoring 16 goals in eight games.—
NBC News,
NBC news,
17 June 2026
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For the first time since joining international competition, the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan has qualified for the FIFA World Cup, marking a milestone achievement for the nation's soccer program and sparking celebrations among Jordanians around the world.—
Loureen Ayyoub,
CBS News,
17 June 2026
Verb
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Attorneys for the media argued that Utah law permits access, while the defense urged the judge to define the media's scope.—
Stepheny Price , Michael Ruiz , Adam Sabes , Sarah Rumpf-Whitten,
FOXNews.com,
11 Dec. 2025
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Travelers in Kentucky are permitted to stop and sleep at state highway rest areas.—
Marina Johnson,
Louisville Courier Journal,
10 Dec. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Legitimize.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/legitimize. Accessed 18 Jun. 2026.
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