legitimatele‧git‧i‧mate1 /ləˈdʒɪtəmət/ ●●○ adjective 
That’s a perfectly legitimate question. Most scientists believe it is legitimate to use animals in medical research.2acceptable or allowed by law: Their business operations are perfectly legitimate.3a legitimate child is born to parents who are legally married to each other OPP illegitimate—legitimately adverb: a legitimately elected government He complained quite legitimately about his treatment.—legitimacy noun [uncountable]: Opponents have questioned the legitimacy of the ruling.
WORD ORIGINlegitimate
Origin:
1400-1500 Medieval Latin past participle of legitimare ‘to legitimize’, from Latin legitimus ‘legitimate’, from lex ‘law’EXAMPLES FROM OTHER DICTIONARIES
- legitimate business operations
- a legitimate reason
- At least three of the dead woman's relatives have a legitimate claim to her house.
- He had a legitimate reason for being late.
- He is a criminal who runs a legitimate business as well.
- How can I be sure that an on-line business is legitimate?
- It is legitimate to suggest that taxes should affect people with higher incomes more than they affect poorer people.
- Safety is an obvious and legitimate concern.
- The legitimate government was overthrown in a coup.
- The government has refused to recognise the far-right group as a legitimate political party.
- The way governments treat their people is a legitimate concern for the international community.
- Tobacco smuggling into the UK is seriously affecting the profits of legitimate importers.
- A meeting which just airs views is quite legitimate but every one present should be aware of it.
- Along with the legitimate uses of force, there may be abuses.
- At about the same time, his two legitimate sons died of the plague.
- Surely these are all legitimate stratagems for the diarist-and using them would be a pardonable offence.
- The problem is, only one of the companies apparently holds legitimate patent rights to the breakthrough.
- Thus the masses have in different ways become legitimate candidates for underdevelopment and misery.
- To express constructive criticism and voice well researched concerns is of course healthy and legitimate.
- Whether or not they were legitimate, many children failed to survive their early critical years.
Longman Language Activatorallowed by law
something that is legal is allowed by law: · This trade in foreign currency is perfectly legal.become legal: · Divorce finally became legal in 1992.· Over 3,000 gay couples have married since it became legal for them to do so last year. legal tender (=forms of money that are legally accepted): · In Maastricht, Dutch Guilders, Deutschmarks and Belgian Francs are all considered legal tender.
formal actions or methods that are lawful are allowed by law, especially as compared with actions or methods that are not legal: · Protesters must only use lawful methods of opposing the government.it is lawful to do something: · It is lawful to employ someone under the age of sixteen if their parents agree.· The FBI will use all reasonable and lawful means to gather intelligence information.· 'Do you take this woman to be your lawful wedded wife?' intoned the priest. 'I do,' murmured Carlos.
legitimate activities, organizations, or claims are done or work according to, normal laws and rules: · He is a criminal who runs a legitimate business as well.· Tobacco smuggling into the UK is seriously affecting the profits of legitimate importers.· How can I be sure that an on-line business is legitimate?· At least three of the dead woman's relatives have a legitimate claim to her house.· The government has refused to recognise the far-right group as a legitimate political party.
an activity or a way of doing business that is above board is done legally, even if it may seem slightly dishonest: · He assured us that the insurance claim was honest and above board, but I'm not so sure.· I'm sure Peggy wouldn't let anything happen that wasn't perfectly open and above board.
: act/keep/stay/remain/operate within the law to make sure that what you do is legal: · He makes tough business deals, but he makes sure he always stays within the law.· Security forces must not only act within the law, but must be seen to do so.· Building contractors must operate within the law by ensuring that an acceptable standard of work is carried out.
formal whether something is legal or not: the legality of something: · The European Court will decide on the legality of his claim.· The union immediately challenged the legality of the decision.be of dubious/questionable/uncertain legality (=when it is not clear whether something is legal or not): · The Appeal Court judge said that his conviction was of dubious legality.· This was the first of several actions that were of questionable legality, and which eventually led to his resignation.
when it is right or reasonable to do something use this to talk about what someone has done or may do, to say that you agree with it because it seems fair or reasonable: right to do something: · You were right to complain - the food was cold.· The screenwriter was right to focus on just one aspect of a long and complicated novel.the right thing to do: · I took a pay cut to come here, but I'm sure it was the right thing to do.do the right thing: · Do the right thing - turn off the TV and get the kids playing outside.
if you say that someone is justified in doing something, or that something they do is justified , you believe what they do is reasonable in that situation: · I don't think Colin's criticisms were really justified.be/feel justified in doing something: · The government feels justified in using military force to protect its own citizens.· The landlord may be justified in charging for any additional work that needs to be done.
if an action is reasonable , it is fair and sensible: · Campaigners say that there is no reasonable objection to women becoming priests.it is reasonable to do something: · It is reasonable to expect members to pay a small fee.· It is reasonable to assume watching a lot of television at an early age interferes with development.it is reasonable that: · It is reasonable that a prospective employer should want to know if someone has a criminal record.
spoken informal say this when you can understand why someone has behaved in a particular way, and you think they were right: · "Sheila's left her husband." "Well, I don't blame her!"I don't blame sb for (doing) something: · I don't blame you for losing your temper with Ann.· It may have been a joke, but you can't blame the women in the department for being angry.
a justifiable feeling, action, or reaction is acceptable because there is a good reason for it: · Can violence ever be a justifiable method of protest?· Reed said the tax increases were not only justifiable, but unavoidable.· Is football a justifiable expense when the college cannot afford enough English classes to meet students' needs?
fair, correct, or reasonable according to accepted rules, facts, or standards of behaviour: · He had a legitimate reason for being late.· The way governments treat their people is a legitimate concern for the international community.it is legitimate to do something: · It is legitimate to suggest that taxes should affect people with higher incomes more than they affect poorer people.
WORD SETSbaby, nounbaby boomer, nounbabyhood, nounbabyish, adjectiveboy, nounchildren's home, nouncustody, nounfamily, nounfirst generation, nounfoundling, noungame, nounguttersnipe, nounhyperactive, adjectivelegitimate, adjectivelegitimize, verbminor, nounminority, nounmite, nounmotherless, adjectivenurture, nounorphan, nounorphanage, nounpapoose, nounpreteen, adjectiveprogeny, nounpuppy fat, nounragamuffin, nounscamp, nounschool friend, nounsextuplet, nounspoiled, adjectivetinker, nountoddle, verbtoddler, nountoilet-training, nountot, nounupbringing, nounurchin, nounward, noun
COLLOCATIONS FROM THE ENTRY That’s a perfectly legitimate question. Most scientists believe it is legitimate to use animals in medical research.COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES
1fair or reasonable: That’s a perfectly legitimate question. Most scientists believe it is legitimate to use animals in medical research. (=one that is true and that other people cannot criticize)· He didn’t have a legitimate excuse for being late.
law (=expectations based on someone's legal rights)· The men have legitimate expectations of a fair hearing.
(=one that is reasonable)· Many people feel that the rebels have a legitimate grievance.
(=a good and acceptable reason)· An employer can’t fire someone without a valid reason.
(=one that it is fair to attack)· The rebels claimed that trains carrying soldiers are a legitimate target.
COLLOCATIONS FROM THE CORPUSADVERB· The Bucharest police force sees its action as perfectly legitimate.· Or was there a perfectly legitimate explanation?· Elwood was carried off after a perfectly legitimate but massive hit delivered by the Springbok centre.· But when the culprits were identified, it turned out that their activities were perfectly legitimate, if a little unusual.· It is perfectly legitimate for the police to have that information.· This may be perfectly legitimate but not all problems can be referred away. 2 Refer the parents for marriage guidance counselling.· This is a perfectly legitimate inductive inference.· Their function is to supply realism or local colour, and for these purposes their use is perfectly legitimate.
· For quite legitimate reasons, later commentators have often left the problem aside.· A meeting which just airs views is quite legitimate but every one present should be aware of it.· And I also know that certain shops in Northern Ireland refused to display it because of the tricolour so that accusation is quite legitimate.· Both these purposes are quite legitimate.
NOUN· To the extent that legitimate authorities have power over us, the pre-emption thesis governs our right attitude to them.· Part of the state's legitimate authority rested on this acknowledgement and it was built into its hegemonic structure and consensus.· Power is legitimate authority in that it is generally accepted as just and proper by members of society as a whole.· It is an account of legitimate authority, whereas the phrase is often used to refer to defacto authorities.· Ours is an attempt to explain the notion of legitimate authority through describing what one might call an ideal exercise of authority.· According to Weber, the claims to legitimate authority are based on one or more of the following grounds: 1.· But naturally not even legitimate authorities always succeed, nor do they always try to live up to the ideal.· It means to believe that one has legitimate authority, or that that person has authority over one.
· The newsletter says institutions should satisfy themselves that funds held on behalf of public figures stem from legitimate business.· I mean, since this is a legitimate business and all.· In the case of the rent and electricity we can assume these are legitimate business expenses.· I should have guessed you'd have a legitimate business.· The reasons for this we consider to be legitimate business affairs.· They too now see he is a man with whom no legitimate business can be done.· He did this for money, and because he was too coarse and stupid to survive in the world of legitimate business.· But there seemed no one about who was not already occupied with his own legitimate business.
· Such families would therefore have no legitimate claim to nursery provisions and other facilities.· They missed the opportunity, but they gained what some would later consider to be a legitimate claim to intervention.
· However, legitimate concern about improvement must be tempered by the countless instances when communication certainly is effective.· But Dan has a legitimate concern about depth in center field.· These they see as legitimate concerns for those working in health.· When you permit these legitimate concerns to spill over into your work performance, your career often suffers.· Now, there are also legitimate concerns about the quality of our civil service.
· I think that the case is based upon what nowadays would be described as a legitimate expectation of being heard.· Lord Denning M.R. stated that where there was no legitimate expectation of being heard there was no requirement for a hearing.· This legitimate expectation was recognized only in public law and not in private law.· Here the individual might have a legitimate expectation that the licence would be renewed.· He has probably thus created a legitimate expectation that he will continue to apply this policy.
· The language of rights, legitimate expectations or privileges should not be elevated to any higher status.· Decisions still emerge which are redolent of the pre-1964 era, such as those which manipulate the distinction between rights and legitimate expectations.
· The misconception, however, is that once a legitimate grievance has been dealt with, the violence will end.
· No, she may give me her money and my legitimate heir, and that is all.· In all three cases the Church seems to have been trying to prevent lords from siting legitimate heirs.· And so at last, though not happily nor of one mind, Lachlan was named as the legitimate heir of Duart.· She is usually noble-born, and crucially, she alone is allowed to bear legitimate heirs.
· But I do think that we are becoming more involved in the Livesey affair than our legitimate interest justifies.· Payne had trouble distinguishing between those with legitimate interests and those without.· The public may be interested in whether a bid is made, but it has no legitimate interest to defend.· The pharmaceutical industry had a legitimate interest in seeing that their own branded drugs were prescribed.· In determining what is a legitimate interest the librarian can safely rely upon one guide only - the law of the land.· Until it does so, the Government can not defend the Scotch Whisky Industry's legitimate interests. 7.
· Thirdly, ritualism, abandoning the goals but sticking rigidly to the legitimate means of achieving them.
· But the jury accepted that a page of the statement had been substituted for legitimate reasons.· He or she is trying to find legitimate reasons not to allow you to speak with Mr Smith.· For quite legitimate reasons, later commentators have often left the problem aside.· None of the legitimate reasons for the artificial Wednesbury sense of the term apply here.· There were legitimate reasons, of course, to build a fair number of those thousands of dams.· Similarly, shyness is constantly invoked as a legitimate reason for failure to do something.· Others will continue to have legitimate reason to visit Prague.
· Universities were genuinely held to have little legitimate right to say how this should be done.· This is not about depriving people accused of crimes of their legitimate rights, including the presumption of innocence.· Authority is the legitimate right to exercise power.· The pharmaceutical companies that were taken to task by Elliott have a legitimate right to protect their intellectual property.· And no murderer can enjoy legitimate rights to the fruits of murder.
· Basil used his weapons with restraint and on legitimate targets.· For those sixty seconds you are not a legitimate target, nor can you fire your own weapon.· The Unita rebel movement claimed responsibility for the attack, saying that the train was carrying munitions and was a legitimate target.· There is no excuse, no nods and winks, no legitimate targets.· There are no legitimate targets, be they members of the security forces or civilians.
· Does the concept of fideism have any coherent and legitimate use in a postmodern world?· Along with the legitimate uses of force, there may be abuses.· Certain types of knives that have no legitimate use - such as flick, gravity and butterfly knives - are banned.
That’s a perfectly legitimate question. Most scientists believe it is legitimate to use animals in medical research.2acceptable or allowed by law: Their business operations are perfectly legitimate.3a legitimate child is born to parents who are legally married to each other OPP illegitimate—legitimately adverb: a legitimately elected government He complained quite legitimately about his treatment.—legitimacy noun [uncountable]: Opponents have questioned the legitimacy of the ruling.