legitimate
/lɪˈd͡ʒɪt.ɪ.mət/ adjective, noun, verb
Forms legitimates legitimating legitimated
- adjective In accordance with the law or established legal forms and requirements.
- adjective Conforming to known principles, or established or accepted rules or standards; valid. “legitimate reasoning; a legitimate standard or method”
- adjective Authentic, real, genuine. “legitimate poems of Chaucer; legitimate inscriptions”
- adjective (of a child) Lawfully begotten, i.e. born to a married couple or later legitimated.
- adjective (of a sexual partner) Legally married. “Besides his four legitimate wives, the caliph had dozens of concubines.”
- adjective Relating to hereditary rights.
- adjective Belonging or relating to the legitimate theater.
- noun A person born to a legally married couple.
- verb (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.
Synonyms
lawful legal de jure licit rightful legit acceptable allowable leveful permissible rulable true valid bona fide pukka actual authentic genuine lubish non-fake legalize legalise decriminalize decriminalise legitimize legitimise legitimatize legitimatise logical
Antonyms
illegitimate false artificial bad bogus bollocks concocted counterfeit ersatz fabricated falsified fake
Etymology
From Middle English legitimat, legytymat, from Medieval Latin lēgitimātus, perfect passive participle of Latin lēgitimō (“to make legal”) (see -ate (adjective-forming suffix)), from Latin lēgitimus (“lawful”), originally "fixed by law, in line with the law," from Latin lēx (“law”). Originally "lawfully begotten".
The noun was derived from the adjective within English or earlier by substantivization (see -ate (noun-forming suffix)), the verb from the adjective by conversion (see -ate (verb-forming suffix)).
Webster’s 1913
- adjective 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.
- adjective Lawfully begotten; born in wedlock.
- verb 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.
Etymology [LL. legitimatus, p. p. of legitimare to legitimate, fr. L. legitimus legitimate. See Legal.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “legitimate”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details