legitimateness

le·git·i·mate

 (lə-jĭt′ə-mĭt)

adj.

1.

a. Being in compliance with the law; lawful: a legitimate business.

b. Being in accordance with established or accepted rules and standards: legitimate advertising practices.

c. Valid or justifiable: a legitimate complaint.

d. Based on logical reasoning: a legitimate deduction.

2. Born of legally married parents: legitimate offspring.

3. Of, relating to, or ruling by hereditary right: a legitimate monarch.

4. Of or relating to drama of high professional quality that excludes burlesque, vaudeville, and some forms of musical comedy: the legitimate theater.

tr.v. (-māt′) le·git·i·mat·ed, le·git·i·mat·ing, le·git·i·mates

To legitimize.

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[Middle English legitimat, born in wedlock, from Medieval Latin lēgitimātus, law-worthy, past participle of lēgitimāre, to make lawful, from Latin lēgitimus, legitimate, from lēx, lēg-, law; see leg- in Indo-European roots.]

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le·git′i·mate·ly adv.

le·git′i·mate·ness n.

le·git′i·ma′tion n.

le·git′i·mat′or (-māt′ər) n.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Thesaurus

legitimateness

noun

The state or quality of being within the law:

lawfulness, legality, legitimacy, licitness.

The American Heritage® Roget's Thesaurus. Copyright © 2013, 2014 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.