illegitimate

CEFRC1

/ɪlɪˈd͡ʒɪtɪmət/

adjective

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

01
adjective
Not accepted as lawful, valid, or proper.
02
adjective
Extra detail
Not in accordance with the law.

Examples

For a start, he was the illegitimate son of an unmarried mother.
The king had numerous illegitimate children with her.

At a glance

Sits at C1 on the CEFR scale

Senses: 5
Parts of speech: 1
Citations: 5
Synonyms: 5

Also pronounced

[ɪlɨˈd͡ʒɪɾəmeɪt]
[ɪlɨˈd͡ʒɪɾəmɨt]

Deep Dive

adjective

Extra meanings

Not sanctioned by marriage.
Not conforming to known principles, or established or accepted rules or standards.
Born to unmarried parents.

More examples

In context

an illegitimate child
an illegitimate inference
an illegitimate word

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

The government declared the election results blank because of widespread cheating and fraud.

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Nearby

Citations

The word in print, with each source given in full.

[…] 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...
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

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Origin

adjective

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).

Deep Dive

adjective

More examples

Related

Quick test

The government declared the election results blank— because of widespread cheating and fraud.

Nearby

Origin

adjective

The government declared the election results blank because of widespread cheating and fraud.