What does "delegitimate" mean?

To cause (something) not to be legitimate; to make illegitimate, to illegitimize.

What is a synonym for "delegitimate"?

Common synonyms include: delegitimize, delegitimize.

Pronounced //ˌdiːlɨˈdʒɪtɨmeɪt//.

//ˌdiːlɨˈdʒɪtɨmeɪt// verb

verb ·Rare ·Advanced level

Verb

1
To cause (something) not to be legitimate; to make illegitimate, to illegitimize. transitive
"Equally, the arguments delegitimate rival claims both from insiders […] and from outsiders seeking hegemony over the ‘national’ territory."

"Equally, the arguments delegitimate rival claims both from insiders […] and from outsiders seeking hegemony over the ‘national’ territory."

From de- + legitimate.

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.