illegitimate, legitimate

illegitimate, legitimate
Illegitimate means "illegal," and legitimate means the precise opposite,"legal" (See illegal). Illegitimate also has these specialized meanings: (1) "born out of wedlock (born a bastard)"; (2) "irregular" (an illegitimate forward pass); (3) "invalid" (a logically illegitimate conclusion). Legitimate is the antonym of illegitimate in each of these three meanings and is also used to mean "rightful" (a legitimate sovereign); "genuine" (a legitimate claim); and "pertaining to professionally produced stage plays" (the legitimate theater), as opposed to radio, television, films, and other forms of entertainment.

Dictionary of problem words and expressions. . 1975.

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  • legitimate — See illegitimate. See illegitimate, legitimate …   Dictionary of problem words and expressions

  • illegitimate — See illegitimate, legitimate …   Dictionary of problem words and expressions

  • illegitimate — il·le·git·i·mate /ˌi li ji tə mət/ adj 1: not recognized by the law as offspring; specif: born out of marriage ◇ An illegitimate child is usu. legitimated by his or her parents later marriage. Illegitimate children generally have the same… …   Law dictionary

  • legitimate — le·git·i·mate 1 /lə ji tə mət/ adj [Medieval Latin legitimatus, past participle of legitimare to give legal status to, from Latin legitimus legally sanctioned, from leg , lex law] 1: conceived or born of parents lawfully married to each other or… …   Law dictionary

  • illegitimate — (adj.) 1530s, born out of wedlock, formed in English (and replacing earlier illegitime, c.1500), modeled on L. illegitimus not legitimate (see IL (Cf. il ) + LEGITIMATE (Cf. legitimate)). Sense of unauthorized, unwarranted is from 1640s. Phrase… …   Etymology dictionary

  • illegitimate — [il΄ə jit′ə mət] adj. [< ML illegitimatus, pp. of illegitimare, to make illegitimate < L illegitimus, not lawful: see IN 2 & LEGITIMATE] 1. born of parents not married to each other; bastard 2. incorrectly deduced: not logical [an… …   English World dictionary

  • illegitimate — *unlawful, illegal, illicit Antonyms: legitimate Contrasted words: *lawful, legal, licit …   New Dictionary of Synonyms

  • illegitimate — [adj] not legal contraband, illegal, illicit, improper, invalid, misbegotten, spurious, supposititious, unauthorized, unconstitutional, unlawful, unsanctioned, wicked, wrong; concepts 319,549 Ant. authorized, blessed, ethical, justifiable, legal …   New thesaurus

  • legitimate — legal, *lawful, licit Analogous words: justified or justifiable, warranted or warrantable (see corresponding verbs at JUSTIFY): *valid, sound, cogent: recognized, acknowledged (see ACKNOWLEDGE): customary, *usual: * …   New Dictionary of Synonyms

  • legitimate — [adj] authentic, valid, legal accepted, accredited, acknowledged, admissible, appropriate, authorized, canonical, certain, cogent, consistent, correct, customary, fair, genuine, innocent, just, justifiable, lawful, licit, logical, natural, normal …   New thesaurus

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