illegitimate

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

And in a 1778 painting of Gainsborough’s wife, Margaret, who was the illegitimate daughter of a duke, he poses her classically in costly black lace.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 4, 2026

The company says that it is “especially concerned about the use of A.I. to help individual humans or small groups gain unprecedented and illegitimate forms of concentrated power.”

From Slate • Feb. 25, 2026

"He seems to believe that any good-faith disagreement with his own interpretation of the law is, by definition, illegitimate," Schwinn told AFP.

From Barron's • Feb. 20, 2026

Viewers eventually learn Sophie’s servitude is forced after her parentage is revealed — she’s the illegitimate daughter of an earl.

From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 29, 2026

In that part of the country, which was littered with illegitimate children and even legitimate ones who had never met their fathers, he was probably the only one to grow up hating his last name.

From "The House of the Spirits: A Novel" by Isabel Allende