How to Use legitimize in a Sentence

legitimize

verb
Definition of legitimizenext
Synonyms for legitimizenext
  • The Missing, by looking that pain dead in the eye, legitimizes it.
    — Julie Muncy, The Verge, 8 Nov. 2018
  • And then the czar stuff, is that at every point Putin has tried to legitimize himself.
    — CBS News, 7 Dec. 2022
  • Allure legitimized it with a fun video, and Cosmo cosigned the trend as well.
    — Elizabeth Logan, Glamour, 24 Sep. 2024
  • The concert struck a blow for racial progress and helped legitimize jazz as a music with deep roots and inarguable worth.
    — John Edward Hasse, WSJ, 24 Dec. 2018
  • The Dragons legitimized those numbers against the Kougars (22-9).
    — Michael Osipoff, Post-Tribune, 10 June 2017
  • Today, the rules of the game remain mostly the same, as does the ethos, but the league is expanding, legitimizing.
    — Ben Baskin, SI.com, 4 Apr. 2018
  • But others say that this would legitimize the stronger party.
    — Niha Masih, Washington Post, 11 Mar. 2024
  • The victory vaulted the Spartans into the top 150 of the NET rankings and helped legitimize them to the public.
    — Connor Letourneau, San Francisco Chronicle, 28 Dec. 2022
  • That was the lightning bolt that legitimized this franchise.
    — Kristen Baldwin, EW.com, 4 May 2020
  • A Final Four run might legitimize him to outsiders, but this program has been on top for a long time.
    — Lindsay Schnell, SI.com, 29 June 2017
  • Trump is being urged not to legitimize Kim by agreeing to talks in North Korea.
    — Washington Post, 10 Mar. 2018
  • Some local politicians legitimized the group through the 1980s by sucking up to ben Yahweh.
    — Jose Lambiet, miamiherald, 7 May 2018
  • The families didn’t need to hear the news to legitimize their late fathers and grandfathers.
    — Bob Nightengale, USA TODAY, 18 Dec. 2020
  • Bottom line here is this: Utah no longer has to play to legitimize its entire program.
    — Gordon Monson, The Salt Lake Tribune, 31 Dec. 2022
  • And in the minds of millions, including some of those who sacked the Capitol, those outlets helped legitimize the groundless fraud claims.
    — Bill Keveney, USA TODAY, 12 Jan. 2021
  • Part of me still wanted Dylan to legitimize my creative work, or at least my choice to pursue it.
    — Sam Sussman, Harper's Magazine, 27 Apr. 2021
  • On the path Since last year, Figueroa-Figueroa had been on a path to legitimizing her immigration status and right to work.
    — Lateshia Beachum, Washington Post, 9 Sep. 2019
  • Coins are small vessels through which a state can legitimize itself.
    — Gail Fletcher, National Geographic, 28 June 2019
  • And someone could start a revolution with the materials at hand, one that is sort of legitimized by the gloss that the sphere gives.
    — Bridget Read, Vogue, 16 Oct. 2018
  • A prime time interview on a mainstream news show serves to legitimize him more than expose him.
    — Heidi Stevens, chicagotribune.com, 13 June 2017
  • Others were concerned that the restaurant's name and partnership with Whole Foods legitimizes the term.
    — The Washington Post, NOLA.com, 29 Apr. 2018
  • That three-game winning streak that seemed to legitimize this year’s squad as a fun upstart playoff contender?
    — Dan Wiederer, Chicago Tribune, 29 Oct. 2024
  • The president will sit at a table legitimizing the regime.
    — Fox News, 10 June 2018
  • Revolver helped legitimize the local pop-up scene and served as a launching pad for numerous chefs.
    — Mark Kurlyandchik, Detroit Free Press, 24 Dec. 2019
  • One thing that West has accomplished in the past decade is helping to legitimize dilettantism.
    — Carrie Battan, The New Yorker, 27 Oct. 2019
  • The fact that the victim is making payments of principal and interest might legitimize the claim.
    — Annie Lane, oregonlive, 15 Apr. 2023
  • The fact that the victim is making payments of principle and interest might legitimize the claim.
    — cleveland, 6 Mar. 2020
  • But, like so many facets of the GOP, the company has legitimized radical voices in recent years.
    — Oliver Darcy, CNN, 17 Oct. 2023
  • His imminent return will likely move St. Juste to the bench, but he’ll be tasked with elevating their secondary in order for Washington’s postseason chances to be legitimized.
    — Kambui Bomani, Forbes, 27 Nov. 2024
  • Still, there is opportunity for this group to continue to legitimize its early-season performance with a strong night against the suddenly struggling champs.
    — Jonas Siegel, The Athletic, 25 Nov. 2024

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'legitimize.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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