How to Use illegitimate in a Sentence

illegitimate

adjective
  • They were fired from their jobs for illegitimate reasons.
  • She thinks that my concerns are illegitimate.
  • All of that is deeply illegitimate.
    — NBC news, 3 May 2026
  • Luther was the son of a miner, Erasmus the illegitimate son of a priest.
    — Razib Khan, National Review, 31 July 2021
  • The Taliban say the vote is illegitimate and have told Afghans to stay at home.
    — The Economist, 27 Sep. 2019
  • Paul has flashed some highlights with swift knockouts in four of those wins, but many still view him as an illegitimate boxer.
    — Kris Rhim, New York Times, 28 Oct. 2022
  • The fact that Jamie’s father is illegitimate is but one reason.
    — Angelica Jade BastiÉn, New York Times, 28 May 2016
  • And then, on top of it, I was born out of some affair like some illegitimate, sinful mistake?
    — Brie Stimson, FOXNews.com, 28 June 2025
  • And trying to make the case that the whole thing has been illegitimate effectively.
    — NBC News, 4 Nov. 2019
  • One army, led by the illegitimate son of a French duke, had fought another, led by a British king.
    — Hermione Hoby, Harper's Magazine, 22 June 2021
  • The nuns then took it upon themselves to make arrangements for the illegitimate child.
    — Literary Hub, 8 May 2026
  • But the reality is the illegitimate caliphate, which acts more like a ship of pirates, can’t keep its own thing going.
    — The Denver Post Editorial Board, The Denver Post, 20 Feb. 2017
  • As Eileen was illegitimate and a source of great shame for the family, her aunt tried to muffle signs of her presence.
    — Literary Hub, 8 May 2026
  • The center pointed out that the website shown in the viral video is illegitimate and not run by the hotel in question.
    — Hannah Hudnall, USA TODAY, 9 Dec. 2024
  • So the police had to track down the illegitimate child of the dead bus driver and one way of doing that would be to identify his mother.
    — Nicholas Farrell, Newsweek, 10 Nov. 2014
  • Kari Lake has claimed for weeks that her loss in the race for Arizona governor was illegitimate.
    — Jonathan J. Cooper and, BostonGlobe.com, 21 Dec. 2022
  • As the auction gets more buzz, Fisher has become wary, worried that some of the bids are illegitimate or were put in as jokes.
    — Praveena Somasundaram, Washington Post, 3 Aug. 2023
  • Everyone wants to talk about how Maduro was illegitimate.
    — Tara Suter, The Hill, 6 Jan. 2026
  • Thus, the system itself is now attacked as illegitimate, and abiding by the law is no defense for the crime of being too wealthy.
    — Andrew Stuttaford, National Review, 20 June 2021
  • But the secretary of state deemed about 40% of them to be illegitimate, and the campaign faltered.
    — Josh Hafner, USA TODAY, 17 Jan. 2018
  • This woman came to the Capitol and said our oath of office is illegitimate because we were sworn in on a Quran.
    — David Marchese, New York Times, 18 Sep. 2020
  • Trump worked hard in each of those instances to degrade and invalidate the process, to treat them as illegitimate in order to blunt the findings.
    — Nicole Hemmer, CNN, 4 Apr. 2023
  • And Chief Justice Roberts wonders why the current court is seen by many as an illegitimate farce.
    — Staff Report, Hartford Courant, 5 Jan. 2024
  • So Maduro is an illegitimate leader.
    — NBC news, 11 Jan. 2026
  • At the time, Barghouti said the trial was illegitimate and refused to deliver a defense to his charges.
    — Avalon Zoppo, NBC News, 10 May 2017
  • Roxy, 14 at the beginning of the novel, is the illegitimate daughter of a British crime lord.
    — Sophie Gilbert, The Atlantic, 22 Oct. 2017
  • Vaemond made his case — a strong one, as so long as people believed and agreed that Rhaenyra and Laenor's children were illegitimate.
    — Ryan Parker, Peoplemag, 9 Oct. 2022
  • Her mother was a maid and her father was a nobleman, meaning that Sophie is not only a maid but illegitimate.
    — Christina Grace Tucker, Vulture, 26 Feb. 2026
  • None of these objectives are illegitimate in themselves.
    — Hamilton Mann, Forbes.com, 27 May 2026
  • The third time was the charm, and her engagement to Giovanni Sforza, the illegitimate son of a count, managed to stick.
    — Anne Thériault, Longreads, 28 May 2020

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'illegitimate.' 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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