legitimatize

verb

le·​git·​i·​ma·​tize li-ˈji-tə-mə-ˌtīz How to pronounce legitimatize (audio)
legitimatized; legitimatizing

Examples of legitimatize in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
But, more often than not, Democrats legitimatize the G.O.P.’s crime panic. Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, The New Yorker, 16 Nov. 2022 As Attorney General, Sessions cited the Bible verse Romans 13 to legitimatize the Trump administration’s migrant policies. al, 10 July 2020 By giving these like-minded traditionalists a name, Bazilian legitimatized a movement. Washington Post, 27 May 2020 And that legitimacy and trust in terms of its consumer application will have to be legitimatized by a brand and a brick and mortar environment, where the consumer has trust and confidence in the company that is providing the transaction. Robert Hackett, Fortune, 27 Jan. 2018 Harcourt, a professor of history at Austin College, is particularly good at showing how anti-Klan cultural productions helped legitimatize the Klan’s views. Eric Herschthal, New Republic, 16 Jan. 2018

Word History

First Known Use

1693, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of legitimatize was in 1693

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Cite this Entry

“Legitimatize.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/legitimatize. Accessed 10 Sep. 2025.

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