How to Use legitimate in a Sentence

legitimate

1 of 2 adjective
  • There's no legitimate reason for prescribing this medication to a child.
  • How much of that was legitimate and how much of it was fool’s gold?
    — Jerry Beach, Forbes, 1 Oct. 2021
  • There is still much to fight for, and many legitimate ways to do it.
    — The Arizona Republic, 22 Apr. 2023
  • So why not build a legitimate contender for when the place is packed again?
    — John Shea, SFChronicle.com, 29 Aug. 2020
  • But in fairness to them, a lot of legitimate words do sound made-up.
    — Kat Eschner, Smithsonian, 28 Feb. 2017
  • The light that would flash green if the tickets were legitimate did not.
    — Bryan West, USA TODAY, 26 Mar. 2024
  • Trump’s call to be an effort to find votes that were not legitimate.
    — Mike Cason | [email protected], al, 4 Mar. 2022
  • Brieske at his best can be a legitimate back-end threat for the Tigers.
    — Cody Stavenhagen, New York Times, 16 Mar. 2026
  • The guy is a legitimate weapon.
    — Chris Bumbaca, USA Today, 15 Sep. 2025
  • All of this is a legitimate target for us.
    — David Brennan, ABC News, 9 Feb. 2026
  • All of this is a legitimate target for us.
    — David Brennan, ABC News, 10 Feb. 2026
  • Kennedy said both sides in the case raised legitimate concerns.
    — Greg Stohr, Bloomberg.com, 4 June 2018
  • That debt was not driven by legitimate claims alone.
    — Vince Fong, Oc Register, 8 Jan. 2026
  • Now the revenge dress is seen as a legitimate way to get over a heartbreak.
    — Vanessa Santos, Glamour, 18 May 2026
  • Then the campaign to make the idea real and legitimate was to go place by place.
    — How To Save A Country, The New Republic, 6 Oct. 2022
  • That alone tells you this message is not legitimate.
    — Kurt Knutsson, FOXNews.com, 27 Apr. 2026
  • Those are the schools that have a legitimate shot at winning a title.
    — Shawn Windsor, Detroit Free Press, 17 Jan. 2020
  • There is a legitimate chance that this could be the final year of his career.
    — Evan Massey, MSNBC Newsweek, 20 Sep. 2025
  • There are legitimate questions about whether any of this will turn out to be legal.
    — Erika D. Smith Columnist, Los Angeles Times, 27 Nov. 2021
  • But there are more legitimate candidates than there have seemed to be in past years.
    — Tim Reynolds, The Orlando Sentinel, 9 Apr. 2026
  • The man could be legitimate, a thief, or a criminal on the run.
    — Roy Berendsohn, Popular Mechanics, 24 Aug. 2023
  • Start putting these seals on it to show this is official, this is legitimate.
    — National Geographic, 30 June 2020
  • If the papers are legitimate, this could be huge news for the culture.
    — Jessica McKinney, Billboard, 8 Nov. 2017
  • This was a legitimate concern for a while.
    — Deputy Managing Editor, Los Angeles Times, 13 Mar. 2026
  • In a legitimate ad, clicking such a button would close the ad.
    — Mark Hachman, PCWorld, 6 Nov. 2018
  • Bernard then asks Tim out on a legitimate date, which the young hero accepts.
    — NBC News, 11 Aug. 2021
  • That 5 could very well be legitimate.
    — Anna Skinner, MSNBC Newsweek, 16 Oct. 2025
  • But none of them can be dismissed as a legitimate threat, either.
    — Nathan Baird, cleveland, 11 July 2020
  • And plenty of events are streamed live, which means the couch is a legitimate option.
    — Hanna Wickes, Kansas City Star, 6 July 2026
  • None of this makes the grief Hope describes any less legitimate.
    — Dana Harris-Bridson, IndieWire, 11 Mar. 2026

legitimate

2 of 2 verb
  • Her tendency to be secretive only serves to legitimate their suspicions.
  • Would any legitimate fraudster or mule do that and then report on themselves?
    — CBS News, 23 Oct. 2022
  • The next crisis may not come from challenges to legitimate slates of electors.
    — Jason Linkins, The New Republic, 5 Feb. 2022
  • The first two are both two-time league MVPs, legitimate homegrown greats of the game.
    — Andy Larsen, The Salt Lake Tribune, 2 July 2022
  • There is no guarantee that a transaction is secure, let alone legitimate.
    — Forbes, 25 Jan. 2022
  • But as polished as this new package looks, the visual overhaul comes with three issues, which range from nitpicks to legitimate concerns.
    — Sam MacHkovech, Ars Technica, 5 June 2020
  • The #MeToo movement helped a lot to legitimate female voices.
    — Elsa Keslassy, Variety, 28 May 2022
  • At the moment, the pressing issue is how the Padres propose to jump from non-factor to legitimate contender.
    — Dennis Lin, sandiegouniontribune.com, 3 Dec. 2017
  • Cy Young Award winner gives Rangers legitimate ace to front the rotation.
    — Dallas News, 6 Dec. 2022
  • Colorado residents who have complained for years about health effects said the study’s findings legitimate their concerns.
    — Bruce Finley, The Denver Post, 17 Oct. 2019
  • And Hoover, having learned his lesson in 1920, worked hard to legitimate his wartime actions.
    — Jack Goldsmith, The Atlantic, 22 Nov. 2022
  • Thus, defining something as hate speech doesn’t impact legitimate First Amendment rights.
    — Micha Danzig, San Diego Union-Tribune, 19 Nov. 2021
  • The specific roles may vary based on the type of fraud being perpetrated, but the parallels to legitimate business are clear.
    — Mike Tuchen, Forbes, 6 Jan. 2023
  • But could legitimate voices of dissent be stifled by a judicial culture of consensus?
    — Bob Egelko, SFChronicle.com, 7 Sep. 2020
  • Quarterback Trevor Lawrence definitely is no joke, giving these fans legitimate hope for the long term.
    — Los Angeles Times, 6 Feb. 2023
  • Now more than ever, the brand will lead its own rhythm, legitimating the value of time and connecting with people globally by getting closer to them in their own space and lives.
    — Eliza Huber, refinery29.com, 28 Apr. 2020
  • If the lockdown orders are lifted, and this transpires, Xi will no longer be able to legitimate his rule as superior to the decadence of the West.
    — Bobby Miller, National Review, 2 Dec. 2022
  • In a country where even doctors and lawyers often make little money, a professional baseball contract offers one of the few gateways to legitimate wealth.
    — Connor Letourneau, San Francisco Chronicle, 7 July 2021
  • While fewer and farther between, legitimate absentee fraud is also reflected in the database.
    — USA Today, 20 Oct. 2020
  • Often, fears surrounding deodorant are tied to legitimate fears of getting a scary diagnosis.
    — Katie Berohn, Good Housekeeping, 16 Aug. 2021
  • The only path from bubble team to legitimate Stanley Cup contender requires making major upgrades at a faster rate than the stars’ decline.
    — Shayna Goldman, New York Times, 19 May 2026
  • To legitimate the control machine in Palestine, the British raked their empire again, this time for ways of securing legal impunity.
    — The New Yorker, 28 Mar. 2022
  • By that point, America had hundreds of Topfields, each inspiring and legitimating the work of the Founders.
    — T. H. Breen, The Atlantic, 3 July 2026
  • Communication issues, busted coverages and penalties — some legitimate and some not — reared their ugly heads in both setbacks.
    — Nate Ulrich, USA TODAY, 22 Oct. 2021
  • Now, as the technology expands from a fringe hacker toy to legitimate business applications, opportunists have flooded the field.
    — Erin Griffith, WIRED, 25 May 2018
  • The current offensive line can’t block legitimate SEC defensive fronts.
    — Christopher Smith, al, 1 Dec. 2020
  • Are any of these accusations legitimate or do some not have a fundamental understanding of how voting and voting rights in America work?
    — Siraj Hashmi, Washington Examiner, 16 Oct. 2020
  • The White Man’s Burden,’ and a plethora of other work that sought to legitimate the British empir[e] … and dehumanise people of colour.
    — Maya Jasanoff, The New Republic, 22 Aug. 2019
  • Over the course of their epic careers, the rivals legitimated the use of cosmetics for respectable women, along the way perfecting such vanity-table staples as the lipstick tube and the mascara wand.
    — Amy Fine Collins, HWD, 2 Mar. 2017
  • The coupon follows similar format to legitimate Kroger coupons, with an expiration date of August 30 and a barcode.
    — Holly Shively, ajc, 9 July 2018

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'legitimate.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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