legitimates

1. 1
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present of legitimate.

   A formal endorsement legitimates the heir's claim to the throne.

   Widespread participation legitimates an election that observers might otherwise dispute.

   Note

   A transitive verb, so this form always needs an object: something legitimates a claim, an election, a person. Its narrowest use is legal, giving someone the standing of one lawfully born. That is how a person comes to count among the people of lawful birth. The wider uses, making a thing lawful or valid, keep the same pattern of agent, verb and object.

2. 2
   noun

   Plural of legitimate.

   The will divided the land equally among the legitimates born during the marriage.

   Genealogists distinguished the legitimates from descendants whose parentage was never lawfully recognized.

   Note

   A noun made from the adjective, naming people by their lawful birth: those born to a legally married couple. The spelling is shared with the verb form, so position decides. In "the legitimates of the house," an article signals people. In "a decree legitimates the child," a subject signals an action. The two meet in meaning, since the adjective also covers someone later legitimated by legal means.

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