LEGITIMACY

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does legitimacy mean? 

• LEGITIMACY (noun)
  The noun LEGITIMACY has 2 senses:

1. lawfulness by virtue of being authorized or in accordance with law

2. undisputed credibility

  Familiarity information: LEGITIMACY used as a noun is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• LEGITIMACY (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Lawfulness by virtue of being authorized or in accordance with law

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Hypernyms ("legitimacy" is a kind of...):

lawfulness (the quality of conforming to law)

Antonym:

illegitimacy (unlawfulness by virtue of not being authorized by or in accordance with law)

Derivation:

legitimate (make legal)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Undisputed credibility

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Synonyms:

authenticity; genuineness; legitimacy

Hypernyms ("legitimacy" is a kind of...):

believability; credibility; credibleness (the quality of being believable or trustworthy)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "legitimacy"):

real McCoy; real stuff; real thing (informal usage attributing authenticity)