legitimacy en · NOUN
Pronunciation
- [ləˈd͡ʒɪɾɪməsi] (Australia, Canada, General-American)
- /ləˈd͡ʒɪtɪməsi/ (Received-Pronunciation)
- audio Colorado
- /ləˈd͡ʒɪtɪməsi/ (Australia, Canada, General-American)
- (Southern-England) audio
Etymology
From legitim(ate) + -acy.
Meanings
-
(countable, uncountable) The quality or state of being legitimate or valid; validity.
The legitimacy based on a revolutionary essence was replaced by legitimacy with an ultranational, ultra-Yugoslav character.
2000, Stuart Nagel, Handbook of Global International Policy, page 193:
-
(broadly, countable, uncountable) The quality or state of being legitimate or valid; validity. ▸ Public acceptance of an institution, such as a government, corporation, or system.
Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. warned that if the court failed to stop the president, its own “institutional legitimacy” would be threatened.
2026 April 18, Jodi Kantor, Adam Liptak, “The Inside Story of Five Days That Remade the Supreme Court”, in The New York Times, retrieved 22 Apr 2026:The fall of the Soviet Union in 1991 was seen by many as proof of capitalism’s legitimacy over communism.
After decades of inequality and oppression, the regime had lost legitimacy with its own population.
Democracy’s legitimacy stems from the consent of the governed.
- (countable, uncountable) Lawfulness of birth or origin; directness of descent as affecting the royal succession.
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| legitimacies | Number=Plur | lexicographic |
Antonyms
illegitimateness · invalidness · unvalidity · invalidity · nonlegitimacy · nonvalidity · illegitimacy
Deriveds
biolegitimacy · semilegitimacy · nonlegitimacy
Hypernyms
Hyponyms
Synonyms
legitimacy · allowability · legitimateness · validness · validity · legitness · liceity · permissibility · allowableness · permissibleness
Translations (24)
bg легитимност (quality of being legitimate or valid; validity) · es legitimidad (quality of being legitimate or valid; validity) · ka კანონიერება (quality of being legitimate or valid; validity) · tr haklılık (quality of being legitimate or valid; validity) · ru закономе́рность (quality of being legitimate or valid; validity) · pt legitimidade (quality of being legitimate or valid; validity) · uk легіти́мність (quality of being legitimate or valid; validity) · ro legitimitate (quality of being legitimate or valid; validity) · ka ლეგიტიმურობა (quality of being legitimate or valid; validity) · ja 正統 (quality of being legitimate or valid; validity) · fi legitimiteetti (quality of being legitimate or valid; validity) · gl lexitimidade (quality of being legitimate or valid; validity) · ar شَرْعِيَّة (quality of being legitimate or valid; validity) · fr légitimité (quality of being legitimate or valid; validity) · pt validade (quality of being legitimate or valid; validity) · th ความชอบธรรม (quality of being legitimate or valid; validity) · pt validez (quality of being legitimate or valid; validity) · it legittimità (quality of being legitimate or valid; validity) · bg законност (quality of being legitimate or valid; validity) · de Rechtmäßigkeit (quality of being legitimate or valid; validity) · cmn 合法 (quality of being legitimate or valid; validity) · ru легити́мность (quality of being legitimate or valid; validity) · ru зако́нность (quality of being legitimate or valid; validity) · de Legitimität (quality of being legitimate or valid; validity)