- make (an illegitimate child) legitimate

- declare the legitimacy of (someone)
"They legitimized their natural child"

- show or affirm to be just and legitimate

- make legal
"Marijuana should be legalized"

- authorized, sanctioned by, or in accordance with law
"a legitimate government"

- of marriages and offspring

- recognized as lawful

- in accordance with recognized or accepted standards or principles
"legitimate advertising practices"

- in accordance with reason or logic
"a logical conclusion"

1. Accordant with law or with established legal forms and requirements; lawful; as, legitimate government; legitimate rights; the legitimate succession to the throne; a legitimate proceeding of an officer; a legitimate heir.

2. Lawfully begotten; born in wedlock.

3. Authorized; real; genuine; not false, counterfeit, or spurious; as, legitimate poems of Chaucer; legitimate inscriptions.

4. Conforming to known principles, or accepted rules; as, legitimate reasoning; a legitimate standard, or method; a legitimate combination of colors.

"Tillotson still keeps his place as a legitimate English classic." -- Macaulay.

5. Following by logical sequence; reasonable; as, a legitimate result; a legitimate inference.

1. To make legitimate, lawful, or valid; esp., to put in the position or state of a legitimate person before the law, by legal means; as, to legitimate a bastard child.

"To enact a statute of that which he dares not seem to approve, even to legitimate vice." -- Milton.