illegitimacy

[ il-i-jit-uh-muh-see ]

noun

, plural il·le·git·i·ma·cies.

1. the state or quality of being illegitimate.

illegitimacy

1. The condition of being born to unmarried parents. It was once considered a mark of disgrace but is generally more accepted now.

Word History and Origins

Origin of illegitimacy¹

First recorded in 1670–80; illegitim(ate) + -acy

Example Sentences

Therefore anti-war protesters coalesced in Chicago to protest Humphrey's impending coronation, lending an air of illegitimacy to the otherwise inevitable.

From Salon

The dwindling stigmas on illegitimacy and on unmarried sexual partners, legal contraception, more laws supporting women’s access to the workplace — things that some conservatives want to reverse — “made at-fault divorce look more and more off-putting.”

From Los Angeles Times

In one room, a delegate who was voting “present” on every subject told me that he was making a statement about the convention’s illegitimacy.

From Slate

For years, some of the most vocal critics of the court’s ethical lapses, its lack of transparency, and its refusals to take seriously its own brokenness and errors, have warned that the day would come when an election would be decided by a body that has refused to clean house and has blamed the press and the academy for the stench of its own illegitimacy.

From Slate

Some of the Berkeley Law Legal Services groups, which provide pro bono legal aid, require student volunteers to undergo a “Palestine 101” training program that “emphasizes the illegitimacy of the State of Israel,” said the motion.

From Washington Times