{
    "term": "legitimate",
    "partOfSpeech": "adjective",
    "ox5000": true,
    "cefr": "c1",
    "definitions": [
        {
            "senseNumber": 1,
            "definition": "for which there is a fair and acceptable reason",
            "cefr": "c1",
            "examples": [
                {
                    "text": "a legitimate grievance"
                },
                {
                    "text": "It seemed a **perfectly legitimate** question."
                },
                {
                    "text": "Politicians are legitimate targets for satire."
                },
                {
                    "text": "Parents' concerns about the disease are quite legitimate."
                },
                {
                    "text": "People have a legitimate expectation that their politicians should be honest."
                },
                {
                    "text": "The court ruled that celebrities' children were not a legitimate target for press intrusion."
                }
            ],
            "synonyms": "valid, justifiable",
            "collocations": {
                "verbs": ["be", "seem", "consider something"],
                "adverb": ["completely", "entirely", "perfectly"]
            }
        },
        {
            "senseNumber": 2,
            "definition": "allowed and acceptable according to the law",
            "cefr": "c1",
            "examples": [
                {
                    "text": "the legitimate government of the country"
                },
                {
                    "text": "Is his business strictly legitimate?"
                },
                {
                    "text": "The legitimate government was reinstated after the uprising."
                }
            ],
            "synonyms": "legal",
            "topics": ["Permission and obligation", "Law and justice"],
            "collocations": {
                "verbs": ["be", "seem", "consider something"],
                "adverb": ["completely", "entirely", "perfectly"]
            }
        },
        {
            "senseNumber": 3,
            "definition": "born when its parents are legally married to each other",
            "cefr": "c2",
            "examples": [],
            "topics": ["Family and relationships"]
        }
    ],
    "pronunciations": {
        "uk": [
            {
                "pronunciation": "/lɪˈdʒɪtɪmət/",
                "audio": "le/legitimate/legitimate__gb_1.mp3"
            }
        ],
        "us": [
            {
                "pronunciation": "/lɪˈdʒɪtɪmət/",
                "audio": "le/legitimate/legitimate__us_1.mp3"
            }
        ]
    },
    "wordOrigin": "late Middle English (in the sense ‘born of parents lawfully married to each other’): from medieval Latin legitimatus ‘made legal’, from the verb legitimare, from Latin legitimus ‘lawful’, from lex, leg- ‘law’."
}