1
as in spurious
born to a father and mother who are not married
despite being illegitimate, Alexander Hamilton rose to greatness
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in illegal
contrary to or forbidden by law
an illegitimate use of campaign contributions for personal expenses
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
3
as in unreasonable
not using or following good reasoning
made several illegitimate inferences
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of illegitimate
One of the Kremlin’s rationales for the war was that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s election was illegitimate.
—
Lauren Kent, CNN, 14 Mar. 2025
However, illegitimate reviews can be particularly problematic within fintechs, wherein such reviews can attract scrutiny and prompt regulatory investigations, thereby causing significant time and cost spent to resolve such scrutiny.
—Branden Abushanab, Forbes, 14 Mar. 2025
Trump has repeatedly -- and falsely -- framed his Ukrainian counterpart as an illegitimate leader and Ukraine as the instigator of Russia's war.
—David Brennan, ABC News, 9 Mar. 2025
Mir, who works for his father’s legitimate business, completely unaware of the illegitimate one, is the smaller, more compact, more driven brother.
—Robert Lloyd, Los Angeles Times, 5 Mar. 2025
See All Example Sentences for illegitimate
Recent Examples of Synonyms for illegitimate
Adjective
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The spurious operation unraveled in a more ignominious way than Costanza’s.—
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Trump files spurious lawsuits to force his targets to defend themselves financially and legally and intimidate others from crossing him — or to surrender and settle, as ABC News did.—
Adjective
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Official fireworks shows took place over the city, and illegal pyrotechnics lit up the sky everywhere in between.—
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Louisville police say anything that goes into the air or explodes is illegal for average citizens.—
Adjective
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The words were harsh but the logic was not unreasonable.—
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This would not be an unreasonable proposition, considering the U.S. already pledged a security guarantee to Ukraine upon its return of all nuclear warheads to Russia by 1996, based on the Budapest Memorandum on Security Assurances.—
Adjective
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Libya's misbegotten nuclear weapons project reflects this general pattern.—
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In the literal sense, that world is the misbegotten land of South Africa, but such are the power and truth of Mr. Fugard’s writing that his best plays transcend even the political tragedy of his native country.—
Adjective
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Federal workers, migrants and transgender troops are among the groups arguing that Trump’s policies are unlawful and will cause irreversible harm if not blocked.—
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In January, a federal appeals court declared DACA unlawful, but kept the policy in place.—
Adjective
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But there is plenty of institutional trading interest in digital assets, perhaps in part because for many hedge funds volatility equates to profit making opportunities, even if the trading is irrational.—
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Amsterdam set up a hotline last month to report concerns about irrational behavior.—
Adjective
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For many years, China has been the largest source of both legal supplies of the drug – which is prescribed for severe pain relief – and illicit supplies of precursor chemicals that are typically processed in labs in Mexico before the final product is smuggled across the US border.—
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In March 2025, more than 650,000 fentanyl pills were seized, following a record of $300 million worth of illicit fentanyl taken off the streets since 2023.—
Adjective
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The Amazon founder was previously married to Mackenzie Scott from 1993 to 2019, and the couple share three sons and an adopted daughter.—
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His adopted daughter, Sandra Correia Lopes, 12, weighs just 12 kilograms, or 26 pounds, and falls sick frequently.—
Cite this Entry
“Illegitimate.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/illegitimate. Accessed 9 Apr. 2025.
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