illegitimately

C2+ Topic:Describing Qualities

US /ˌɪlɪˈdʒɪtəmətli/ UK /ˌɪlɪˈdʒɪtɪmətli/ See IPA manual

Meanings

1

adv
in an unlawful, improper, or unauthorized manner

The funds had been illegitimately diverted from the charity.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 adv · in an unlawful, improper,... unlawfully illegally improperly wrongfully

Opposites

legitimately lawfully legally

Word family

Related forms legitimate illegitimate legitimacy

Etymology

From illegitimate + -ly, from Late Latin illegitimus, from in- ('not') + legitimus ('lawful'), from lex ('law').

legitimus Latin lex Latin

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Describing Qualities Word Formation & Derivatives

External links

# illegitimately

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2+
**Part of speech:** adv
**IPA (US):** /ˌɪlɪˈdʒɪtəmətli/
**IPA (UK):** /ˌɪlɪˈdʒɪtɪmətli/

## Meanings
1. in an unlawful, improper, or unauthorized manner

## Examples
- The funds had been illegitimately diverted from the charity.

## Synonyms
- unlawfully
- illegally
- improperly
- wrongfully

## Antonyms
- legitimately
- lawfully
- legally

## Related Forms
- legitimate
- illegitimate
- legitimacy

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: legitimus
- Root: lex

## Etymology
From illegitimate + -ly, from Late Latin illegitimus, from in- ('not') + legitimus ('lawful'), from lex ('law').

## AI Etymology
illegitimately comes from illegitimate + -ly, from Late Latin illegitimus, from in- ('not') + legitimus ('lawful'), from lex ('law'). Morphologically, the ending is part of the etymology: the suffix is attached to the older base named in the history, producing a later English derivative. In present English, the adverb sense is "in an unlawful, improper, or unauthorized manner", so the historical development ends in a clearly identifiable modern dictionary use. The same base also appears in related forms such as legitimate, illegitimate, and legitimacy. Its semantic neighborhood includes unlawfully, illegally, improperly, and wrongfully, which helps locate the modern sense without adding a separate etymological claim. The named historical forms include Latin legitimus and Latin lex.

## Topics
- Describing Qualities
- Word Formation & Derivatives

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