1
as in spurious
born to a father and mother who are not married
despite being illegitimate, Alexander Hamilton rose to greatness
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in illegal
contrary to or forbidden by law
an illegitimate use of campaign contributions for personal expenses
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
3
as in unreasonable
not using or following good reasoning
made several illegitimate inferences
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of illegitimate
Beatdapp, a firm specializing in streaming fraud detection, estimates fraudulent music streams generate approximately $2 billion in diverted, illegitimate royalties every year.
—
Kyle Eustice, VIBE.com, 30 Mar. 2026
The show followed the destitute Cuylers — father Early, his illegitimate son Rusty, his meth-loving sister Lily, and his crabby grandmother Granny — and their various moneymaking high jinks.
—Eric Vilas-Boas, Vulture, 18 Mar. 2026
But then a mysterious Romany woman (Rebecca Ferguson) turns up, and persuades him to return to Birmingham, in order to bring his violent illegitimate son (Barry Keoghan) – who now runs his Peaky Blinders mob – to heel.
—The Week Uk, TheWeek, 12 Mar. 2026
In a July public comment letter, Experian argued it should not be required to respond to individual CFPB complaints and that the vast majority of those filed recently are illegitimate.
—Joel Jacobs, CNN Money, 11 Mar. 2026
See All Example Sentences for illegitimate
Kyle Eustice, VIBE.com, 30 Mar. 2026
The show followed the destitute Cuylers — father Early, his illegitimate son Rusty, his meth-loving sister Lily, and his crabby grandmother Granny — and their various moneymaking high jinks.
—Eric Vilas-Boas, Vulture, 18 Mar. 2026
But then a mysterious Romany woman (Rebecca Ferguson) turns up, and persuades him to return to Birmingham, in order to bring his violent illegitimate son (Barry Keoghan) – who now runs his Peaky Blinders mob – to heel.
—The Week Uk, TheWeek, 12 Mar. 2026
In a July public comment letter, Experian argued it should not be required to respond to individual CFPB complaints and that the vast majority of those filed recently are illegitimate.
—Joel Jacobs, CNN Money, 11 Mar. 2026
See All Example Sentences for illegitimate
Recent Examples of Synonyms for illegitimate
Adjective
-
These efforts apparently relied on a mix of sock-puppet accounts across social media platforms, which promoted the spurious claims of vilifying websites.—
Gary Baum,
HollywoodReporter,
21 Apr. 2026
-
Suu Kyi, Myanmar’s 80-year-old former leader, is serving a 27-year prison term on charges widely viewed as spurious and politically motivated.—
ABC News,
ABC News,
10 Apr. 2026
Adjective
-
Louisville police say anything that goes into the air or explodes is illegal for average citizens.—
James Bruggers,
The Courier-Journal,
5 July 2017
-
Official fireworks shows took place over the city, and illegal pyrotechnics lit up the sky everywhere in between.—
Lisa Beebe,
Los Angeles Magazine,
5 July 2017
Adjective
-
Gill's decision came after Scott's lawyer requested to suspend the trial on the grounds that the grandparents had not met the state statute requiring them to prove Scott's decision to keep them from seeing Laila was unreasonable.—
Juliet Pennington,
PEOPLE,
24 Apr. 2026
-
Keirans, 59, argued the 144-month prison term was unreasonable and that special conditions of supervised release were improper.—
CBS News,
CBS News,
24 Apr. 2026
Adjective
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Then there was the misbegotten, no-bid $140 million contract for medical services between the state Department of Corrections and UConn Health.—
Kevin Rennie,
Hartford Courant,
28 Feb. 2026
-
Into this narrow social wedge was born a boy, child of a passionate but misbegotten moment.—
Gail Sheehy,
Vanity Fair,
20 Feb. 2026
Adjective
-
In February of this year, a district court ruled that DHS's third-country removal practices were unlawful, but the ruling was stayed pending the government's appeal, allowing the deportations to continue.—
Julia Ingram,
CBS News,
1 May 2026
-
Evanston police initially detained five males, and three of them were later charged by the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office on several felony and misdemeanor counts of drug and unlawful weapon possession.—
Claire Murphy,
Chicago Tribune,
30 Apr. 2026
Adjective
-
Surveys show a 50-50 divide, but Trump’s real base is his same irrational 30%.—
Sun Sentinel Editorial Board,
Sun Sentinel,
24 Apr. 2026
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Letting Jinx stay is yet another act of irrational love from Margo.—
Erin Qualey,
Vulture,
15 Apr. 2026
Adjective
-
The proposal would specifically define terms like event contracts while also requiring exchanges to implement safeguards against advertising, illicit finance, and fund segregation.—
Eleanor Mueller,
semafor.com,
30 Apr. 2026
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Her government has handed over scores of cartel suspects to the United States, arrested hundreds of other cartel operatives and busted numerous illicit drug laboratories, among other steps.—
Kate Linthicum,
Los Angeles Times,
29 Apr. 2026
Adjective
-
Bainbridge knew about secrets and unreasoning shame.—
Christopher Tayler,
Harpers Magazine,
27 Jan. 2026
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Let sound political prescience but take the place of an unreasoning prejudice, and this will be done.—
Frederick Douglass,
The Atlantic,
16 Aug. 2017
Cite this Entry
“Illegitimate.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/illegitimate. Accessed 2 May. 2026.
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