How to Use legitimize in a Sentence

legitimize

verb
  • This legitimizes regime changes by force.
    — Jacqueline Charles, Miami Herald, 3 Jan. 2026
  • Coins are small vessels through which a state can legitimize itself.
    — Gail Fletcher, National Geographic, 28 June 2019
  • That legitimizes it a little bit.
    — Paul Sullivan, Chicago Tribune, 21 Feb. 2026
  • But others say that this would legitimize the stronger party.
    — Niha Masih, Washington Post, 11 Mar. 2024
  • Why legitimize a system that puts athletes at risk?
    — Caster Semenya, Time, 1 Apr. 2026
  • Allure legitimized it with a fun video, and Cosmo cosigned the trend as well.
    — Elizabeth Logan, Glamour, 24 Sep. 2024
  • And then the czar stuff, is that at every point Putin has tried to legitimize himself.
    — CBS News, 7 Dec. 2022
  • The Missing, by looking that pain dead in the eye, legitimizes it.
    — Julie Muncy, The Verge, 8 Nov. 2018
  • Those moments further legitimize the hours of work he’s put into his craft.
    — Hunter Patterson, New York Times, 13 May 2026
  • The concert struck a blow for racial progress and helped legitimize jazz as a music with deep roots and inarguable worth.
    — John Edward Hasse, WSJ, 24 Dec. 2018
  • What hurts the Cuban people is legitimizing it.
    — Efrat Lachter, FOXNews.com, 17 Mar. 2026
  • That three-game winning streak that seemed to legitimize this year’s squad as a fun upstart playoff contender?
    — Dan Wiederer, Chicago Tribune, 29 Oct. 2024
  • Why legitimize a system that is willing to toss aside minorities?
    — Caster Semenya, Time, 1 Apr. 2026
  • Revolver helped legitimize the local pop-up scene and served as a launching pad for numerous chefs.
    — Mark Kurlyandchik, Detroit Free Press, 24 Dec. 2019
  • The tactics used in antisemitic marches and protests will be legitimized.
    — Matthew Continetti, National Review, 11 May 2024
  • Part of me still wanted Dylan to legitimize my creative work, or at least my choice to pursue it.
    — Sam Sussman, Harper's Magazine, 27 Apr. 2021
  • The families didn’t need to hear the news to legitimize their late fathers and grandfathers.
    — Bob Nightengale, USA TODAY, 18 Dec. 2020
  • But the right amount would legitimize their businesses, putting them on a path to skyrocketing growth.
    — Danielle Wiener-Bronner, CNN Money, 10 May 2025
  • Keys wore just her glowing bare face at high-profile events and photoshoots, helping legitimize the brand’s claims.
    — L'oréal Blackett, refinery29.com, 24 Apr. 2024
  • Than gifting a young boy a Grammy as a way to legitimize his dreams of a profession in the creative arts?
    — Taylor Crumpton, Time, 10 Feb. 2026
  • The then-officer's role was to show up in his scout car to legitimize the eviction ruse, authorities said.
    — Violet Ikonomova, Freep.com, 16 July 2025
  • Now the junta that ousted her seeks to hold sham polls in December to entrench and legitimize their rule.
    — Kim Aris, Time, 7 Nov. 2025
  • So there was a great deal of prejudice and many attempts to de-legitimize her intelligence.
    — Roberto Prieto, Variety, 26 May 2026
  • Today, the rules of the game remain mostly the same, as does the ethos, but the league is expanding, legitimizing.
    — Ben Baskin, SI.com, 4 Apr. 2018
  • Anything less would legitimize kidnapping as an instrument of war and set a grotesque precedent.
    — Irwin Redlener, MSNBC Newsweek, 21 Aug. 2025
  • Trump is being urged not to legitimize Kim by agreeing to talks in North Korea.
    — Washington Post, 10 Mar. 2018
  • One thing that West has accomplished in the past decade is helping to legitimize dilettantism.
    — Carrie Battan, The New Yorker, 27 Oct. 2019
  • Those narratives helped legitimize problems medicine had long ignored.
    — Geri Stengel, Forbes.com, 7 Jan. 2026
  • And someone could start a revolution with the materials at hand, one that is sort of legitimized by the gloss that the sphere gives.
    — Bridget Read, Vogue, 16 Oct. 2018
  • Aurangzeb, who was now in control, chose not merely to eliminate a rival but to legitimize his removal.
    — Tamanna Nangia, Encyclopedia Britannica, 2 Apr. 2026

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'legitimize.' 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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