legitimately

le·git·i·mate  (l-jt-mt)

adj.

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

2. Being in accordance with established or accepted patterns and standards: legitimate advertising practices.

3. Based on logical reasoning; reasonable: a legitimate solution to the problem.

4. Authentic; genuine: a legitimate complaint.

5. Born of legally married parents: legitimate issue.

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

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

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

To make legitimate, as:

a. To give legal force or status to; make lawful.

b. To establish (a child born out of wedlock) as legitimate by legal means.

c. To sanction formally or officially; authorize.

d. To demonstrate or declare to be justified.

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[Middle English legitimat, born in wedlock, from Medieval Latin lgitimtus, law-worthy, past participle of lgitimre, to make lawful, from Latin lgitimus, legitimate, from lx, lg-, law; see leg- in Indo-European roots.]

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le·giti·mate·ly adv.

le·giti·mate·ness n.

le·giti·mation n.

le·giti·mator (-mtr) n.

Thesaurus

Adv.	1.	legitimately - in a manner acceptable to common custom; "you cannot do this legitimately!" lawfully, licitly illegitimately, illicitly - in a manner disapproved or not allowed by custom; "He acted illegitimately when he increased the rent fourfold"
	2.	legitimately - in a lawfully recognized manner; "let's get married so our child can be born legitimately" out of wedlock, illegitimately - of biological parents not married to each other; "this child was born illegitimately"

Translations

legitimately [lɪˈdʒɪtɪmɪtlɪ] ADV

1. (= lawfully) → legítimamente

2. (= justifiably) [expect] → justificadamente
you could legitimately argue that → sería justo or estaría justificado argumentar que ...
he can legitimately claim to speak for all South Africans → tiene sobradas razones para erigirse en portavoz de todos los sudafricanos
he has demanded, quite legitimately, that → ha exigido, con toda la razón, que ...

legitimately [lɪˈdʒɪtəmətli] adv

(within the law) [act, elect] → légitimement
legitimately elected → légitimement élu
The government has been legitimately elected by the people → Le gouvernement a été légitimement élu par le peuple.

(with good reason) [argue, claim] → légitimement

legitimately

adv (= lawfully) → legitim; (= with reason) → berechtigterweise, mit Recht; he argues, quite legitimately, that … → er führt das berechtigte Argument an, dass …; it can legitimately be expected of people that … → man kann mit Recht von den Leuten erwarten, dass …