as in legal
permitted by law
the mistrust created among investors by the financial scandal has hurt even companies engaged in wholly legitimate business practices
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
as in to legitimize
Related Words
Dissimilar Words
Example Sentences
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.
Recent Examples of legitimate
Charles Kupchan, Foreign Affairs, 4 Aug. 2021
In response, elites double down, weaponizing the claim of misinformation to legitimate the stifling of debate.
—Jacob Hale Russell, TIME, 4 Mar. 2025
Jem Aswad, Variety, 5 Aug. 2025
Under the new deal, France has agreed to accept the return of undocumented people arriving in Britain by small boats, in exchange for Britain agreeing to accept an equal number of legitimate asylum seekers with British family connections.
—CNN Money, 5 Aug. 2025
See All Example Sentences for legitimate
Adjective
An offer from Washington to reduce tensions with the West will not succeed on its own; after all, Putin relies on such tensions to legitimate his iron political grip.
—Charles Kupchan, Foreign Affairs, 4 Aug. 2021
In response, elites double down, weaponizing the claim of misinformation to legitimate the stifling of debate.
—Jacob Hale Russell, TIME, 4 Mar. 2025
Verb
After ascertaining from the Duke of Paducah, who was featured on the show, that the complaint was legitimate, Colonel
immediately sent back a refund of $50.
—Jem Aswad, Variety, 5 Aug. 2025
Under the new deal, France has agreed to accept the return of undocumented people arriving in Britain by small boats, in exchange for Britain agreeing to accept an equal number of legitimate asylum seekers with British family connections.
—CNN Money, 5 Aug. 2025
See All Example Sentences for legitimate
Recent Examples of Synonyms for legitimate
Adjective
-
Substance abuse issues, legal issues, controversies and confrontations.—
Abbey Mastracco,
New York Daily News,
13 Aug. 2025
-
Combs’ legal team filed a motion to have a gag order placed on witnesses in an effort to shield testimony from potential jurors.—
DeMicia Inman,
VIBE.com,
12 Aug. 2025
Verb
-
This article is not useful to most of us, because 90% of towns and cities in this country are locked into a single ISP, effectively local monopolies legitimized by the feckless FCC, Congress, and state legislatures.—
Michael Lydick,
PC Magazine,
9 Aug. 2025
-
In his eyes, a meeting between him and Trump would legitimize him with the West.—
Anna Commander,
MSNBC Newsweek,
8 Aug. 2025
Adjective
-
In light of these events, the stock’s descent below $5 seems justifiable.—
Trefis Team,
Forbes.com,
12 Aug. 2025
-
To some, his grievances are universal and justifiable.—
Andre Gee,
Rolling Stone,
7 July 2025
Verb
-
If anything, impending fatherhood had validated my choice to stop.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
14 Aug. 2025
-
The folks over at Pantone have also validated skin-tone accuracy for onscreen realism.—
New Atlas,
New Atlas,
13 Aug. 2025
Adjective
-
Even on the Merits, the Administration Fails The judges further argued that their standing order was a lawful exercise of inherent judicial power to protect jurisdiction, comparing it to temporary stays issued by appellate courts.—
Robert Alexander,
MSNBC Newsweek,
12 Aug. 2025
-
Critics, including these plaintiffs, say registration is intrusive and allows the government to collect sensitive personal information from lawful gun owners.—
Kaelan Deese,
The Washington Examiner,
12 Aug. 2025
Verb
-
This suggests a concerning disconnect between some employers and their staff, and that workers in these situations have little faith the abusers will be banned or sanctioned by their employers.—
Jo Causon,
Forbes.com,
6 Aug. 2025
-
Trump on Wednesday imposed 50% tariffs on the South American heavyweight, following through on his threat to retaliate against Brazil’s prosecution of his ally, former President Jair Bolsonaro, on coup charges; Washington also sanctioned the judge overseeing the case.—
J.D. Capelouto,
semafor.com,
30 July 2025
Verb
-
Much attention was paid to OpenAI's Sam Altman and xAI's Elon Musk trading barbs on X this week after Musk threatened to sue Apple over supposedly biased App Store rankings privileging ChatGPT over Grok.—
Ashley Belanger,
ArsTechnica,
14 Aug. 2025
-
Instead of lifting wages systemically, Congress is opting to privilege a narrow slice of income for a narrow subset of workers, conditioned on proper paperwork.—
Andrew Leahey,
Forbes.com,
20 July 2025
Verb
-
While this is still preliminary research, the results are promising and now warrant further pre-clinical studies to assess broader safety and dosing, paving the way for human trials.—
New Atlas,
New Atlas,
13 Aug. 2025
-
The second goal was to find a location for the meeting that would demonstrate, both to Russians and to leaders around the world, that Putin is no longer a pariah avoiding travel for fear of arrest under a war crimes warrant the International Criminal Court issued against him in 2023.—
Marc Champion,
Twin Cities,
13 Aug. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Legitimate.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/legitimate. Accessed 22 Aug. 2025.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share