legitimate
adjective · verb · noun
Simple meaning
In accordance with the law or established legal forms and requirements.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
luhjituhmuhtSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ləˈdʒɪtəmət
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
adjective
In accordance with the law or established legal forms and requirements.
Conforming to known principles, or established or accepted rules or standards; valid.
of a child
Lawfully begotten, i.e. born to a married couple or later legitimated.
Authentic, real, genuine.
of a sexual partner
Legally married.
Marital.
verb
Make (an illegitimate child) legitimate; declare the legitimacy of (someone)
noun
A person born to a legally married couple.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- B2 · Upper Intermediate
- Frequency
- Moderately Common
- Typical Use
- Neutral / general English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: In accordance with the law or established legal forms and requirements.
Used this way, legitimate is a specialist word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. This is a legal use: the wording is institutional and carries a defined meaning in law rather than a loose everyday one.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Specialist/technical
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Specialized
- Connotation
- Clinical and technical
- Usage feel
- Technical and specialized
Where it naturally appears
- Law/legal
- Government/politics
- Academic writing
Usage note
In general conversation this sense usually needs explaining — outside its field, people reach for a plainer word.
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use legitimate
- “He had a legitimate reason for being late to the meeting.”
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Similar Words, What’s the Difference?
Close in meaning, but not always interchangeable.
Relating to the law or to lawyers.
Explicitly established or constituted by law.
Designating a marriage (or the wife involved) between a man of higher rank and a woman of lower rank, often having….
Conformable to or allowed by law.
Well grounded in logic or truth or having legal force.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Word family
Words built from the same root.
In a manner acceptable to common custom.
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
Synonyms
Sense: make (an illegitimate child) legitimate
Antonyms
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.