Crossword Dictionary

What's The Definition Of Legitimate?

\Le*git"i*mate\ (-m[asl]t), a. [LL. legitimatus, p. p. of legitimare to legitimate, fr. L. legitimus legitimate. See {Legal}.] 1. Accordant with law or with established legal forms and requirements; lawful; as, legitimate government; legitimate rights; the legitimate succession to the throne; a legitimate proceeding of an officer; a legitimate heir. 2. Lawfully begotten; born in wedlock. 3. Authorized; real; genuine; not false, counterfeit, or spurious; as, legitimate poems of Chaucer; legitimate inscriptions. 4. Conforming to known principles, or accepted rules; as, legitimate reasoning; a legitimate standard, or method; a legitimate combination of colors. Tillotson still keeps his place as a legitimate English classic. --Macaulay. 5. Following by logical sequence; reasonable; as, a legitimate result; a legitimate inference.
\Le*git"i*mate\ (-m[=a]t), v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Legitimated} (-m[=a]`t[e^]d); p. pr. & vb. n. {Legitimating} (-m[=a]`t[i^]ng).] To make legitimate, lawful, or valid; esp., to put in the position or state of a legitimate person before the law, by legal means; as, to legitimate a bastard child. To enact a statute of that which he dares not seem to approve, even to legitimate vice. --Milton.