legitimate
le·gi·ti·mate
adjective
of marriages and offspring; recognized as lawful
in accordance with recognized or accepted standards or principles
- “legitimate advertising practices”
authorized, sanctioned by, or in accordance with law
- “a legitimate government”
verb
- “Marijuana should be legalized”
show or affirm to be just and legitimate
make (an illegitimate child) legitimate; declare the legitimacy of (someone)
- “They legitimized their natural child”
Origin
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)).
Phrases
- legitimate drama
- legitimate fertilization
- legitimate interest
- legitimate theater
Related words
Word family
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See also
WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.