legitimize

verb

le·​git·​i·​mize li-ˈji-tə-ˌmīz How to pronounce legitimize (audio)
legitimized; legitimizing
legitimization noun
legitimizer noun

Examples of legitimize in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web Does the murder of 1,200 Israelis legitimize Hamas’s obliteration? To remind the world what Israel must fight against — on behalf of innocent Israelis and Palestinians — Israeli women have undertaken a grueling job in the past months. Haley Strack, National Review, 1 Mar. 2024 That entity would need to be legitimized by a UN Security Council resolution and would oversee the gradual assumption of responsibility by the PA. Martin Indyk, Foreign Affairs, 20 Feb. 2024 Mexico’s leaders have long tried to control the historical narrative to legitimize their rule — from the Mexican-American War of the 1840s to the Revolution starting in 1910. Luis Antonio Rojas, Washington Post, 27 Feb. 2024 The United States began warning that Iran might transfer drones to Russia in July 2022 and still negotiated a deal that would subsidize and potentially legitimize those transfers for another two months. Daniel Foster, National Review, 30 Nov. 2023 Blockchain can be a powerful instrument in legitimizing government processes, budgets and even elections by creating immutable, auditable trails of these processes, which leads to greater public trust. Expert Panel®, Forbes, 16 Feb. 2024 Complicating matters, Rybak says, was that the courts had mistakenly ruled that certain fakes were authentic—which collectors, gallery owners and sellers sometimes pointed to in legitimizing their fakes. Jordan Michael Smith, Smithsonian Magazine, 13 Feb. 2024 Apple has a knack for revitalizing and legitimizing a product category—something that the face computer market really needs right now. Michael Calore, WIRED, 1 Feb. 2024 The decision may tend to legitimize the deep-sea mining industry, says Ida Soltvedt Hvinden, who studies maritime and Arctic politics at the Fridtjof Nansen Institute in Norway. Eliza Gkritsi, WIRED, 12 Jan. 2024

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'legitimize.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

First Known Use

1646, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of legitimize was in 1646

Dictionary Entries Near legitimize

Cite this Entry

“Legitimize.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/legitimize. Accessed 18 Mar. 2024.

Kids Definition

legitimize

verb
le·​git·​i·​mize li-ˈjit-ə-ˌmīz How to pronounce legitimize (audio)
legitimized; legitimizing

Legal Definition

legitimize

transitive verb
le·​git·​i·​mize lə-ˈji-tə-ˌmīz How to pronounce legitimize (audio)
legitimized; legitimizing
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