The quality or state of being legitimate or valid; validity.
Used in a Sentence
legitimacy
Definitions, parts of speech, synonyms, and sentence examples for legitimacy.
Editorial note
Governments have no moral legitimacy and therefore no legal legitimacy.
Examples16
Definitions3
Parts of speech1
Quick take
The quality or state of being legitimate or valid; validity.
Meaning at a glance
The clearest senses and uses of legitimacy gathered in one view.
Lawfulness of birth or origin; directness of descent as affecting the royal succession.
(by extension, political science) Public acceptance of an institution, such as a government, corporation, or system.
Definitions
Core meanings and parts of speech for legitimacy.
noun
The quality or state of being legitimate or valid; validity.
See also: authenticity, genuineness
noun
Lawfulness of birth or origin; directness of descent as affecting the royal succession.
See also: authenticity, genuineness
noun
(by extension, political science) Public acceptance of an institution, such as a government, corporation, or system.
See also: authenticity, genuineness
Example sentences
Governments have no moral legitimacy and therefore no legal legitimacy.
The state could not possibly allow its legitimacy and legal supremacy to be undermined by his actions.
The more direct link is potentially to the CCP's claim to legitimacy as the government of China.
Wikipedia's ideological hijacking is a serious problem and arguably represents the biggest threat to Wikipedia's longterm legitimacy.
Such as endless attacks on the legitimacy of the president's election, birth certificate, allegations of being a foreign agent, etc.
The first three facts in their list have no relevance to the legitimacy of the shooting.
Crucially, China's government's legitimacy comes mainly from economic performance -- that's their justification for ruling the country, nobody elected them.
Well, if it's legitimacy you're after, it's illegal to prevent salary sharing in the US.
To hang onto the tattered remnants of their empires while keeping their own people in line despite their declining political legitimacy.
They would try to avoid the necessity of constant fighting to hold on to their position by employing various means to cement their legitimacy in the minds of the ruled.
Morality is a word I used because it provides a useful context against which to judge legitimacy.
I don't like the conflating of implementations and languages, since it removes legitimacy of the alternate implementations.
Quote examples
If they can't defend China's "historic" claims to territory then they could lose legitimacy in the eyes of an increasingly nationalistic public.
If one looks around they will see most political regimes are very interested in keeping their "constituents" in line and maintaining their political legitimacy.
Whether advocacy organizations "send" the emails or whether they're sent by an individual has no bearing on either the legitimacy of the message, or whether or not they will remain unread.
To expand on that, "treachery" emphasizes a connotation of moral judgement that is less explicit in "treason", namely because "treason" is always against the legitimate state (outside of hyperbole), and both the legitimacy of the state and the morality of betraying it are recognized as matters on which opinions may differ.
Frequently asked questions
Short answers drawn from the clearest meanings and examples for this word.
How do you use legitimacy in a sentence?
Governments have no moral legitimacy and therefore no legal legitimacy.
What does legitimacy mean?
The quality or state of being legitimate or valid; validity.
What part of speech is legitimacy?
legitimacy is commonly used as noun.