legitimate

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

• adjective Being in compliance with the law; lawful.
• adjective Being in accordance with established or accepted rules and standards.
• adjective Valid or justifiable.
• adjective Based on logical reasoning.
• adjective Born of legally married parents.
• adjective Of, relating to, or ruling by hereditary right.
• adjective Of or relating to drama of high professional quality that excludes burlesque, vaudeville, and some forms of musical comedy.
• transitive verb To make legitimate, as.
• transitive verb To give legal force or status to; make lawful.
• transitive verb To sanction formally or officially; authorize.
• transitive verb To demonstrate or declare to be justified.

from The Century Dictionary.

• To make lawful; establish the legitimacy or propriety of.
• To render legitimate, as a bastard; invest with the rights of a legitimate child or lawful heir, as one born out of wedlock.
• According to law, rule, or precedent; agreeable to established principles or standards; in conformity with custom or usage; lawful; regular; orderly; proper: as, a legitimate king or government; the legitimate drama; a legitimate subject of debate; legitimate trade.
• Specifically Of lawful birth; born in wedlock, or of parents legally married: as, legitimate children; a legitimate heir.
• Justly based on the premises; logically correct, allowable, or valid: as, a legitimate result; legitimate arguments or conclusion.
• Synonyms Legal, Licit, etc. See lawful.
• noun By ellipsis, legitimate drama (which see, under legitimate).
• noun An emigrant to Australia who had ‘legal reasons’ for emigrating.
• noun A legitimate child.
• noun Something to which one has a legal right. Milton, Eikon., 31.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

• transitive verb To make legitimate, lawful, or valid; esp., to put in the position or state of a legitimate person before the law, by legal means.
• adjective Accordant with law or with established legal forms and requirements; lawful
• adjective Lawfully begotten; born in wedlock.
• adjective Authorized; real; genuine; not false, counterfe`t, or spurious
• adjective Conforming to known principles, or accepted rules
• adjective Following by logical sequence; reasonable

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

• adjective In accordance with the law or established legal forms and requirements; lawful.
• adjective Conforming to known principles, or established or accepted rules or standards; valid.
• adjective Authentic, real, genuine.
• adjective Lawfully begotten, i.e., born to a legally married couple.
• adjective Relating to hereditary rights.
• verb To make legitimate, lawful, or valid; especially, to put in the position or state of a legitimate person before the law, by legal means.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

• verb show or affirm to be just and legitimate
• adjective authorized, sanctioned by, or in accordance with law
• verb make (an illegitimate child) legitimate; declare the legitimacy of (someone)
• adjective of marriages and offspring; recognized as lawful
• verb make legal
• adjective based on known statements or events or conditions
• adjective in accordance with recognized or accepted standards or principles