LEGITIMATE

lawful, legitimate, licit

(adjective) authorized, sanctioned by, or in accordance with law; “a legitimate government”

legitimate

(adjective) of marriages and offspring; recognized as lawful

legitimate

(adjective) in accordance with recognized or accepted standards or principles; “legitimate advertising practices”

legitimate, logical

(adjective) based on known statements or events or conditions; “rain was a logical expectation, given the time of year”

legitimate

(verb) make (an illegitimate child) legitimate; declare the legitimacy of (someone); “They legitimized their natural child”

legitimate

(verb) show or affirm to be just and legitimate

legalize, legalise, decriminalize, decriminalise, legitimize, legitimise, legitimate, legitimatize, legitimatise

(verb) make legal; “Marijuana should be legalized”

Source: WordNet® 3.1


Etymology

Adjective

legitimate (comparative more legitimate, superlative most legitimate)

In accordance with the law or established legal forms and requirements.

Synonyms: lawful, legal

Antonym: illegitimate

Conforming to known principles, or established or accepted rules or standards; valid.

• Macaulay

Authentic, real, genuine.

Antonym: illegitimate

Antonym: false

Lawfully begotten, i.e, born to a legally married couple. [from mid-14th century]

Synonym: rightful

Antonym: illegitimate

Relating to hereditary rights.

Noun

legitimate (plural legitimates)

A person born to a legally married couple.

Antonyms

• bastard

• illegitimate

Verb

legitimate (third-person singular simple present legitimates, present participle legitimating, simple past and past participle legitimated)

(transitive) To make legitimate, lawful, or valid; especially, to put in the position or state of a legitimate person before the law, by legal means. [from 1590]

Usage notes

• Forms of legitimize are about twice as common as forms of the verb legitimate in the US.

• Forms of legitimate are somewhat more common than the forms of the verbs legitimize and legitimise (combined) in the UK.

Synonyms

• legitimize

Source: Wiktionary


Le*git"i*mate, a. Etym: [LL. legitimatus, p. p. of legitimare to legitimate, fr. L. legitimus legitimate. See Legal.]

1. Accordant with law or with established legal forms and requirements; lawful; as, legitimate government; legitimate rights; the legitimate succession to the throne; a legitimate proceeding of an officer; a legitimate heir.

2. Lawfully begotten; born in wedlock.

3. Authorized; real; genuine; not false, counterfeit, or spurious; as, legitimate poems of Chaucer; legitimate inscriptions.

4. Conforming to known principles, or accepted rules; as, legitimate reasoning; a legitimate standard, or method; a legitimate combination of colors. Tillotson still keeps his place as a legitimate English classic. Macaulay.

5. Following by logical sequence; reasonable; as, a legitimate result; a legitimate inference.

Le*git"i*mate, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Legitimated; p. pr. & vb. n. Legitimating.]

Definition: To make legitimate, lawful, or valid; esp., to put in the position or state of a legitimate person before the law, by legal means; as, to legitimate a bastard child. To enact a statute of that which he dares not seem to approve, even to legitimate vice. Milton.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition



RESET




Word of the Day

30 November 2024

HYPOTHETICAL

(noun) a hypothetical possibility, circumstance, statement, proposal, situation, etc.; “consider the following, just as a hypothetical”


coffee icon

Coffee Trivia

An article published in Harvard Men’s Health Watch in 2012 shows heavy coffee drinkers live longer. The researchers examined data from 400,000 people and found out that men who drank six or more coffee cups per day had a 10% lower death rate.

coffee icon