illegitimate

adjective

il·​le·​git·​i·​mate ˌi-li-ˈji-tə-mət 

1

a

: not recognized as lawful offspring

b

: born of parents not married to each other

2

a

: not sanctioned by law : illegal

b

: not authorized by good usage

c

of a taxon : published but not in accordance with the rules of the relevant international code

3

: not rightly deduced or inferred : illogical

4

: departing from the regular : erratic

illegitimately adverb

Synonyms

• baseborn
• misbegotten
• natural
• spurious
• supposititious
• unfathered

Examples of illegitimate in a Sentence

She thinks that my concerns are illegitimate.

They were fired from their jobs for illegitimate reasons.

Recent Examples on the Web

Democrats argued that the Kremlin’s support rendered Trump an illegitimate leader; Trump and his allies claimed that the intelligence agencies were part of a deep-state conspiracy against him. —David D. Kirkpatrick, The New Yorker, 21 Oct. 2024

In 2021, Qanon followers recycled this claim to argue that President Biden’s inauguration was actually illegitimate. —Sarah Emerson, Forbes, 17 Oct. 2024

While the Taiwanese government insisted that the communist revolution made Mao’s rule over the mainland illegitimate and sought international recognition as the actual successor state to historic China, the global community has long since acknowledged the legitimacy of the Chinese Communist Party. —Timothy Nerozzi, Washington Examiner - Political News and Conservative Analysis About Congress, the President, and the Federal Government, 14 Oct. 2024

Agents interviewed Sun about the packages and told him the devices were illegitimate. —Krystal Nurse, USA TODAY, 5 Oct. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1536, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

Kids Definition

illegitimate

adjective

il·​le·​git·​i·​mate ˌil-i-ˈjit-ə-mət 

1

: born of a father and mother who are not married

2

: illegal

illegitimately adverb

Legal Definition

illegitimate

adjective

il·​le·​git·​i·​mate ˌi-li-ˈji-tə-mət 

1

: not recognized by the law as offspring

specifically : born out of marriage

Note: An illegitimate child is usually legitimated by his or her parents' later marriage. Illegitimate children generally have the same inheritance rights under intestate successions as legitimate children; statutes limiting their inheritance rights have been found to violate the equal protection clause.

2

: not valid according to law

illegitimate noun