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

Meanwhile, an early Jewish polemic claimed that Jesus was the illegitimate son of a Roman soldier nicknamed Panther—perhaps employing a tasteless but pointed pun on the Greek word parthenos (virgin). —Adam Gopnik, The New Yorker, 24 Mar. 2025

Ukraine and its Western allies have condemned those referendums, held in 2022, as illegitimate. —Thomas G. Moukawsher, Newsweek, 22 Mar. 2025

The Kremlin has repeatedly warned that the seizure of Russian assets would be illegitimate and erode investors’ confidence. —David McHugh, TIME, 18 Mar. 2025

To discourage brewery ballot box stuffing, the team at Untappd worked to screen out fraudulent votes from bots, bogus accounts, and other illegitimate sources. —Hudson Lindenberger, Forbes, 17 Mar. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1536, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

Rhymes for illegitimate

• legitimate

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