as in legal
permitted by law
the mistrust created among investors by the financial scandal has hurt even companies engaged in wholly legitimate business practices
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
as in to legitimize
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of legitimate
Andreas Kluth, Mercury News, 28 June 2025
In response, elites double down, weaponizing the claim of misinformation to legitimate the stifling of debate.
—Jacob Hale Russell, TIME, 4 Mar. 2025
Dallas Morning News, Twin Cities, 19 Sep. 2025
Multiple firsthand accounts confirm that processing legitimate compensation is being complicated by false claims using details found on bag tags.
—Kurt Knutsson, FOXNews.com, 18 Sep. 2025
See All Example Sentences for legitimate
Adjective
The only domestic organ that could have legitimated the strike is Congress, but it wasn’t even given the chance.
—Andreas Kluth, Mercury News, 28 June 2025
In response, elites double down, weaponizing the claim of misinformation to legitimate the stifling of debate.
—Jacob Hale Russell, TIME, 4 Mar. 2025
Verb
Lawmakers had legitimate concerns that the app posed risks to users’ privacy and to national security.
—Dallas Morning News, Twin Cities, 19 Sep. 2025
Multiple firsthand accounts confirm that processing legitimate compensation is being complicated by false claims using details found on bag tags.
—Kurt Knutsson, FOXNews.com, 18 Sep. 2025
See All Example Sentences for legitimate
Recent Examples of Synonyms for legitimate
Adjective
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Yet, not everyone believes the administration’s action was legal.—
Kevin R. Kosar,
The Washington Examiner,
19 Sep. 2025
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In December 2024, Syed’s legal team filed a motion to reduce his life sentence under Maryland's Juvenile Restoration Act, as Syed was not yet 18 at the time of the crime.—
Erin Jensen,
USA Today,
19 Sep. 2025
Verb
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The university system became an important site for legitimizing claims through theories and studies.—
Sara Giordano,
The Conversation,
4 Sep. 2025
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In an effort to legitimize the prior two phases, a scammer may impersonate an employee of the Federal Reserve or another agency.—
Jeremy Tanner,
The Hill,
30 Aug. 2025
Adjective
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But even defensive gun uses that are ultimately ruled to be justifiable often result in legal consequences—investigations, charges, grand-jury proceedings, and sometimes trials.—
Rachel Monroe,
New Yorker,
16 Sep. 2025
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There is a justifiable public-health rationale for going after these shops.—
Nicholas Florko,
The Atlantic,
16 Sep. 2025
Verb
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Almost 29 million claims were filed and about 18 million were validated as of September 2023, according to Meta’s response in a 2024 legal document.—
Auzinea Bacon,
CNN Money,
13 Sep. 2025
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Earlier this year, the Indian production giant partnered with Fashion for Good to launch Future Forward Factories India, an initiative that entails establishing an open-source blueprint of best-in-class technologies and a demonstration plant to validate environmental claims.—
Angela Velasquez,
Sourcing Journal,
12 Sep. 2025
Adjective
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Driving records were last considered public and easily accessible from the Massachusetts Department of Transportation before July 1, 2023, or the start date of a law that granted immigrants without lawful proof of presence in the country a pathway to a license.—
Chris Van Buskirk,
Boston Herald,
16 Sep. 2025
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In many cases, the systems were deployed alongside lawful intercept platforms, which allow real-time surveillance of communications.—
Sujita Sinha,
Interesting Engineering,
15 Sep. 2025
Verb
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Leclerc wasn’t sanctioned because the available evidence on his leaving the track, rather than the contentious positioning, was inconclusive.—
Alex Kalinauckas,
New York Times,
15 Sep. 2025
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The United Kingdom also sanctioned 30 individuals and companies, included businesses based in China and Turkey, that have supplied Russia with electronics, chemicals, explosives and other weapons components.—
Arkansas Online,
Arkansas Online,
14 Sep. 2025
Verb
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And the dialogue would happen on platforms that goad each of us into being the worst versions of ourselves; that prioritize in-group performance over listening; that reward outrage and outrageousness; that collapse context; that exist to privilege conflict over resolution.—
Charlie Warzel,
The Atlantic,
12 Sep. 2025
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At the same time, the Brotherhood discourages any worldly attachment that privileges one person over another person, or over God.—
Hannah Gold,
New Yorker,
29 Aug. 2025
Verb
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Nonetheless, with policy in restrictive territory, the baseline outlook and the shifting balance of risks may warrant adjusting our policy stance.—
Adeola Adeosun
Robert Birsel,
MSNBC Newsweek,
16 Sep. 2025
-
An accomplishment that warranted some kind of celebration, or at least some gesture of largesse.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
16 Sep. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Legitimate.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/legitimate. Accessed 21 Sep. 2025.
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