MEANING
Give an action, institution or claim recognized legitimacy, or make it appear properly justified.
Use it for
Words that belong together
- legitimize authority
- legitimize a practice
On the page
Invoking tradition did not legitimize a procedure that excluded affected residents.
Independent oversight helped legitimize the council’s claim to represent the wider community.
Nearby words
Related words
Word forms
- Base
- legitimize
- Past tense
- legitimized
- Past participle
- legitimized
- Present participle
- legitimizing
Full tense & aspect guide
- Present
- legitimize
- Present continuous
- am/is/are legitimizing
- Present perfect
- have/has legitimized
- Present perfect continuous
- have/has been legitimizing
- Past
- legitimized
- Past continuous
- was/were legitimizing
- Past perfect
- had legitimized
- Past perfect continuous
- had been legitimizing
- Future
- will legitimize
- Future continuous
- will be legitimizing
- Future perfect
- will have legitimized
- Future perfect continuous
- will have been legitimizing
Choose the auxiliary that agrees with your subject. These are constructions of one word, not separate entries.
Usage notes
Primary category: academic / formal. Forms: legitimize; legitimizes; legitimized; legitimized; legitimizing Legacy lexical fields mirror sense 1 only. Use numbered sense fields for all meanings. Established modern English lexical item. No separate regional spelling or grammatical inflection entry. Writing functions: analysis, explanation, qualification. Disciplines: general academic writing. Commonness: moderately common. Third-person singular: legitimizes.
Practice this word in a sentenceYour margin notes
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