illegitimate

English

Etymology

Based on Latin illegitimus; equivalent to il- +‎ legitimate.

Pronunciation

• (adjective, noun)
  • IPA^(key): /ɪlɪˈd͡ʒɪtɪmət/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

  • (General American) IPA^(key): [ɪlɨˈd͡ʒɪɾəmɨt]
  • (New Zealand) IPA^(key): /ɘlɘˈdʒɘtɘmɘt/

• (verb)
  • IPA^(key): /ɪlɪˈd͡ʒɪtɪmeɪt/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

  • (General American) IPA^(key): [ɪlɨˈd͡ʒɪɾəmeɪt]
  • (New Zealand) IPA^(key): /ɘlɘˈdʒɘtɘmeɪt/

Adjective

illegitimate (comparative more illegitimate, superlative most illegitimate)

1. Not conforming to known principles, or established or accepted rules or standards.

   Synonym: invalid

   Antonym: valid

   • 1791 (date written), Mary Wollstonecraft, “The Prevailing Opinion of a Sexual Character Discussed”, in A Vindication of the Rights of Woman: With Strictures on Political and Moral Subjects, London: […] J[oseph] Johnson, […], published 1792, →OCLC, page 38:

     […] it may be impossible to convince them that the illegitimate power which they obtain, by degrading themselves, is a curse […]

   • 1927, J. B. S. Haldane, “Possible Worlds”, in Possible Worlds and Other Essays‎^[1], London: Chatto and Windus:

     The so-called interstellar space […] has not the properties of ordinary space. It will not conduct sound, nor can a human being move through it. It is therefore illegitimate to measure it in miles.

   • 2009, J. M. Coetzee, “Martin”, in Summertime‎^[2], New York: Viking, page 209:

     Our attitude was that, to put it briefly, our presence there [in South Africa] was legal but illegitimate. We had an abstract right to be there, a birthright, but the basis of that right was fraudulent. Our presence was grounded in a crime, namely colonial conquest, perpetuated by apartheid.

2. Not in accordance with the law.

   Synonyms: illegal, illicit, unlawful

   Antonym: legal

   • 1914, Theodore Dreiser, chapter 54, in The Titan‎^[3], New York: John Lane, page 475:

     […] if things went on at this rate it would be doubtful soon whether ever again he would be able to win another election by methods legitimate or illegitimate.

3. Not sanctioned by marriage.
   • 1783, Edward Gibbon, chapter 8, in The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire‎^[4], volume 1, London: W. Strahan and T. Cadell, page 317:

     If we credit the scandal of the former [i.e. his enemies], Artaxerxes sprang from the illegitimate commerce of a tanner’s wife with a common soldier.

   • 1916, chapter 6, in Abraham Brill, transl., Leonardo da Vinci: A Psychosexual Study of an Infantile Reminiscence‎^[5], New York: Moffat, Yard, page 118:

     His illegitimate birth deprived him of the influence of a father until perhaps his fifth year […]

   1. Born to unmarried parents.

      Synonyms: natural; see also Thesaurus:illegitimate

      an illegitimate child

      • c. 1602, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Troylus and Cressida”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene vii]:

        I am a bastard begot, bastard instructed, bastard in mind, bastard in valour, in every thing illegitimate.

      • 1838, Boz [pseudonym; Charles Dickens], chapter 51, in Oliver Twist; or, The Parish Boy’s Progress. […], volume (please specify |volume=I, II, or III), London: Richard Bentley, […], →OCLC:

        ‘This child,’ said Mr. Brownlow, drawing Oliver to him, and laying his hand upon his head, ‘is your half-brother; the illegitimate son of your father […] ’

   2. (dated) Having a child or children with a person to whom one is not married.
      • 1876, George Eliot [pseudonym; Mary Ann Evans], chapter 27, in Daniel Deronda, volume (please specify |volume=I to IV), Edinburgh; London: William Blackwood and Sons, →OCLC:

        She had only to collect her memories, which proved to her that “anybody” regarded the illegitimate children as more rightfully to be looked shy on and deprived of social advantages than illegitimate fathers.

      • 1935, Carolyn Wells, chapter 13, in The Beautiful Derelict‎^[6], New York: Triangle Books, page 222:

        I heard last night that a what-do-you-call it?—claimant?—has arrived who says Pat Wayne is his illegitimate father.

4. Not correctly deduced.

   Synonyms: illogical, invalid

   Antonyms: logical, valid

   an illegitimate inference

   • 1658, Kenelm Digby, A Late Discourse […] Touching the Cure of Wounds by the Powder of Sympathy‎^[7], London: R. Lownes and T. Davies, page 75:

     […] in natural things we must have recourse […] to experience. And all reasoning that is not supported so, ought to be repudiated, or at least suspected to be illegitimate.

   • 1734, George Berkeley, The Analyst‎^[8], London: J. Tonson, Section 27, pp. 44-45:

     […] it is illegitimate to reduce an Equation, by subducting from one Side a Quantity when it is not to be destroyed, or when an equal Quantity is not subducted from the other Side of the Equation:

5. Not authorized by good usage; not genuine.

   Synonym: spurious

   an illegitimate word

6. (botany) Involving the fertilization of pistils by stamens not of their own length, in heterogonously dimorphic and trimorphic flowers.

   illegitimate union; illegitimate fertilization

   • 1877, Charles Darwin, chapter 1, in The Different Forms of Flowers on Plants of the Same Species‎^[9]:

     […] the legitimate unions between the two forms of the above nine species of Primula are much more fertile than the illegitimate unions; although in the latter case pollen was always taken from a distinct plant of the same form.

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:illegitimate

Antonyms

• legitimate

Related terms

• illegit
• illegitimacy
• illegitimately
• illegitimateness
• illegitimate theater
• illegitimate theatre
• illegitimation
• illegitimize

 

Translations

not conforming to known principles, or established or accepted rules or standards

• Finnish: epäkelpo (fi), epäpätevä (fi), kelvoton (fi), säännönvastainen, laiton (fi)
• Russian: нелигитимный (neligitimnyj)

against the law

• Armenian: ապօրինի (hy) (apōrini)
• Bulgarian: незаконен (bg) (nezakonen)
• Catalan: il·legítim (ca)
• Danish: uretmæssig, uberettiget
• Dutch: illegaal (nl), onrechtmatig (nl)
• Esperanto: malrajta
• Finnish: laiton (fi), lainvastainen (fi)
• French: illégitime (fr)
• Georgian: არაკანონიერი (araḳanonieri), უკანონო (uḳanono), არალეგიტიმური (aralegiṭimuri)
• German: illegitim (de), unrechtmäßig (de)
• Greek: παράνομος (el) m (paránomos)
• Italian: illegale (it)
• Japanese: 違法な (ja) (ihō na)
• Latin: illegitimus
• Manx: ^{(please verify)} neuleighalagh
• Polish: nielegalny (pl)
• Portuguese: ilegal (pt)
• Romanian: ilegitim (ro) m, nelegal (ro) m
• Russian: незако́нный (ru) (nezakónnyj), противозако́нный (ru) (protivozakónnyj), нелега́льный (ru) (nelegálʹnyj), нелегити́мный (ru) (nelegitímnyj)
• Swedish: olaglig (sv), illegal (sv), illegitim (sv), lagstridig (sv)
• Turkish: yolsuz (tr), gayrimeşru (tr)

born to unmarried parents

• Armenian: ապօրինի (hy) (apōrini)
• Bulgarian: незаконно роден (nezakonno roden)
• Catalan: il·legítim (ca)
• Czech: nemanželský (cs)
• Danish: illegitim
• Esperanto: nelegitima
• Finnish: avioton (fi)
• Greek: νόθος (el) (nóthos)

  Ancient: νόθος (nóthos)

• Irish: neamhdhlisteanach, tabhartha
• Italian: illegittimo (it)
• Japanese: 婚外の (kongai no), 庶出の (ja) (shoshutsu no)
• Latin: illegitimus, nothus, spurius m
• Manx: oainjyragh, sooree
• Polish: nieślubny (pl) m
• Portuguese: ilegítimo (pt)
• Russian: незаконный (ru) (nezakonnyj), внебрачный (ru) (vnebračnyj)
• Spanish: ilegítimo (es), natural (es)
• Swedish: oäkta (sv), utomäktenskaplig (sv), illegitim (sv)
• Turkish: gayrimeşru (tr)
• Vietnamese: đẻ hoang

illogical

• Bulgarian: неправилен (bg) (nepravilen)
• Danish: ulogisk
• Finnish: väärä (fi), epälooginen (fi), epäpätevä (fi)

not genuine; not authorized by good usage

• Finnish: väärä (fi)
• French: illégitime (fr)
• Italian: illegittimo (it)
• Japanese: 偽の (ja) (nise no), 紛いの (ja) (magai no)
• Portuguese: ilegítimo (pt)
• Swedish: illegitim (sv)

Further reading

• illegitimate on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Noun

illegitimate (plural illegitimates)

1. A person born to unmarried parents.

   Synonyms: natural child, lovechild, bastard

   • 1966, Jean Rhys, Wide Sargasso Sea‎^[10], New York: Norton, Part 2, p. 96:

     Her father and mine was a shameless man and of all his illegitimates I am the most unfortunate and poverty stricken.

Translations

person born to unmarried parents

• Finnish: lehtolapsi (fi)
• Maori: tama meamea, raparere, tīraumoko, pōriro
• Spanish: hijo ilegítimo m

Verb

illegitimate (third-person singular simple present illegitimates, present participle illegitimating, simple past and past participle illegitimated)

1. (transitive) To make illegitimate.