lexicow

legitimacy

/lɪˈdʒɪtɪməsi//lɪˈdʒɪtɪməsi/·noun
I watch a bare-headed figure stand still while, from below, a forest of hands goes up. Together they lift a crown along the body and set it square on the head, and the instant it settles a light rises all around it. The crown was never grabbed from above or forced down by one fist — it came up from the ground, raised by the very crowd it will rule, and it holds because their hands put it there.
|

Definition

Legitimacy is the quality of being legitimate — accepted as rightful rather than merely seized, forged, or pretended. Of power, it rests on recognition more than on force: a government has legitimacy when the governed accept its right to rule. Of an argument or a claim, it means being justified and not arbitrary. The word names the difference between holding something and having the acknowledged right to hold it, which is why it is so often contested.

Examples

  • Power taken by force often struggles to win the legitimacy that only recognition can confer.
  • Voters questioned the legitimacy of an election whose results no one could substantiate.
  • Scholars still debate the legitimacy of a ruler whose claim to the throne was always tenuous.

Collocations

confer legitimacy·question the legitimacy of·democratic legitimacy·a crisis of legitimacy·lend legitimacy to

Synonyms

validity·lawfulness·authority·legality·rightfulness

Antonyms

illegitimacy

Word family

legitimate (adjective)·legitimize (verb)·illegitimacy (noun)

In TOEFL & IELTS

A key abstract noun for politics, history, and IELTS opinion essays. Strong collocations: confer / question / a crisis of legitimacy. Mind the spelling and the family (legitimate, legitimize). It often pairs with 'authority' and 'recognition' in academic argument.