Illegitimate Meaning
/ɪlɪˈd͡ʒɪtɪmət/Definition, CEFR level C1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
adjNot conforming to known principles, or established or accepted rules or standards.
adjNot in accordance with the law.
Sentence Examples
For a start, he was the illegitimate son of an unmarried mother.
The king had numerous illegitimate children with her.
Synonyms & Antonyms
Antonyms:
CEFR Practice Quiz
The government declared the election results ____ because of widespread cheating and fraud.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The court ruled that the leader's claim to the throne was ____ and had no legal basis.
Word Origin & History
First attested in 1536, from Latin illēgitimus, most likely an adapted borrowing of Middle French illegitime, equivalent to il- + legitimate, see -ate (etymology 1, 2 and 3).
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"[…] it may be impossible to convince them that the illegitimate power which they obtain, by degrading themselves, is a curse […]"
— 1791 (date written), Mary Wollstonecraft, “The Prevailing Opinion of a Sexual Character Discussed”, in A Vindication of the Rights of Woman: With Strictures on Political and Moral Subjects, London: […] J[oseph] Johnson, […], published 1792, →OCLC, page 38:
"The so-called interstellar space […] has not the properties of ordinary space. It will not conduct sound, nor can a human being move through it. It is therefore illegitimate to measure it in miles."
— 1927, J. B. S. Haldane, “Possible Worlds”, in Possible Worlds and Other Essays, London: Chatto and Windus:
"Our attitude was that, to put it briefly, our presence there [in South Africa] was legal but illegitimate. We had an abstract right to be there, a birthright, but the basis of that right was fraudulent. Our presence was grounded in a crime, namely colonial conquest, perpetuated by apartheid."
— 2009, J. M. Coetzee, “Martin”, in Summertime, New York: Viking, page 209:
"[…] if things went on at this rate it would be doubtful soon whether ever again he would be able to win another election by methods legitimate or illegitimate."
— 1914, Theodore Dreiser, chapter 54, in The Titan, New York: John Lane, page 475:
"If we credit the scandal of the former [i.e. his enemies], Artaxerxes sprang from the illegitimate commerce of a tanner’s wife with a common soldier."
— 1783, Edward Gibbon, chapter 8, in The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, volume 1, London: W. Strahan and T. Cadell, page 317:
Explore More C1 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The government declared the election results ____ because of widespread cheating and fraud.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The court ruled that the leader's claim to the throne was ____ and had no legal basis.