'Legitimate' definitions:
Definition of 'legitimate'
(from WordNet)
adjective
Of marriages and offspring; recognized as lawful [ant: illegitimate]
adjective
Based on known statements or events or conditions; "rain was a logical expectation, given the time of year" [syn: legitimate, logical]
adjective
In accordance with recognized or accepted standards or principles; "legitimate advertising practices"
adjective
Authorized, sanctioned by, or in accordance with law; "a legitimate government" [syn: lawful, legitimate, licit]
verb
Make legal; "Marijuana should be legalized" [syn: legalize, legalise, decriminalize, decriminalise, legitimize, legitimise, legitimate, legitimatize, legitimatise] [ant: criminalise, criminalize, illegalise, illegalize, outlaw]
verb
Show or affirm to be just and legitimate
verb
Make (an illegitimate child) legitimate; declare the legitimacy of (someone); "They legitimized their natural child"
Definition of 'Legitimate'
From: GCIDE
- Legitimate \Le*git"i*mate\ (-m[asl]t), a. [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. [1913 Webster]
- 2. Lawfully begotten; born in wedlock. [1913 Webster]
- 3. Authorized; real; genuine; not false, counterfe`t, or spurious; as,$legitimate poems of Chaucer; legitimate inscriptions. [1913 Webster]
- 4. Conforming to known principles, or accepted rules; as, legitimate reasoning; a legitimate standard, or method; a legitimate combination of colors. [1913 Webster]
- Tillotson still keeps his place as a legitimate English classic. --Macaulay. [1913 Webster]
- 5. Following by logical sequence; reasonable; as, a legitimate result; a legitimate inference. [1913 Webster]
Definition of 'Legitimate'
From: GCIDE
- Legitimate \Le*git"i*mate\ (-m[=a]t), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Legitimated (-m[=a]`t[e^]d); p. pr. & vb. n. Legitimating (-m[=a]`t[i^]ng).] 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. [1913 Webster]
- To enact a statute of that which he dares not seem to approve, even to legitimate vice. --Milton. [1913 Webster]
Synonyms of 'legitimate'
From: Moby Thesaurus
- acceptable,
- actionable,
- actor-proof,
- admissible,
- all-star,
- allowable,
- applicable,
- authentic,
- authoritative,
- authorize,
- authorized,
- ballet,
- balletic,
- binding,
- bona fide,
- by law,
- candid,
- card-carrying,
- certify,
- cinematic,
- cinematographic,
- cogent,
- competent,
- condonable,
- consistent,
- constitutional,
- correct,
- credible,
- de jure,
- defensible,
- dinkum,
- dispensable,
- dramatic,
- dramatical,
- dramaturgic,
- excusable,
- exemptible,
- expiable,
- fair,
- film,
- filmic,
- following the letter,
- forgivable,
- genuine,
- good,
- ham,
- hammy,
- histrionic,
- honest,
- honest-to-God,
- inartificial,
- inoffensive,
- judicial,
- juridical,
- just,
- justiciable,
- justifiable,
- kosher,
- lawful,
- lawmaking,
- legal,
- legalize,
- legislative,
- legit,
- legitimatize,
- legitimize,
- legitimized,
- licit,
- lifelike,
- literal,
- logical,
- melodramatic,
- milked,
- monodramatic,
- movie,
- natural,
- naturalistic,
- operatic,
- original,
- overacted,
- overplayed,
- pardonable,
- permissible,
- plausible,
- proper,
- pure,
- rational,
- real,
- realistic,
- reasonable,
- remissible,
- right,
- rightful,
- sanction,
- sanctionable,
- sanctioned,
- sane,
- scenic,
- self-consistent,
- sensible,
- simon-pure,
- simple,
- sincere,
- solid,
- sound,
- spectacular,
- stagelike,
- stageworthy,
- stagy,
- starstruck,
- statutory,
- stellar,
- sterling,
- substantial,
- sufficient,
- sure-enough,
- theaterlike,
- theatrical,
- thespian,
- thrown away,
- true,
- true to life,
- true to nature,
- true to reality,
- unadulterated,
- unaffected,
- unassumed,
- unassuming,
- uncolored,
- unconcocted,
- uncopied,
- uncounterfeited,
- underacted,
- underplayed,
- undisguised,
- undisguising,
- undistorted,
- unexaggerated,
- unfabricated,
- unfanciful,
- unfeigned,
- unfeigning,
- unfictitious,
- unflattering,
- unimagined,
- unimitated,
- uninvented,
- unobjectionable,
- unpretended,
- unpretending,
- unqualified,
- unromantic,
- unsimulated,
- unspecious,
- unsynthetic,
- unvarnished,
- valid,
- validate,
- vaudevillian,
- venial,
- verbal,
- verbatim,
- veridical,
- verisimilar,
- vindicable,
- warrant,
- warrantable,
- weighty,
- well-argued,
- well-founded,
- well-grounded,
- wholesome,
- within the law,
- word-for-word