legitimacy

From legitimate +‎ -cy.

• IPA^(key): /ləˈd͡ʒɪtɪməsi/

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legitimacy (countable and uncountable, plural legitimacies)

1. The quality or state of being legitimate or valid; validity.
   • 2000, Stuart Nagel, Handbook of Global International Policy, page 193:

     The legitimacy based on a revolutionary essence was replaced by legitimacy with an ultranational, ultra-Yugoslav character.

   1. (by extension, political science) Public acceptance of (a government or societal system).

      After decades of inequality and oppression, the regime had lost legitimacy.

      The fall of the Soviet Union in 1991 was seen by many as proof of capitalism’s legitimacy over communism.

      Democracy’s legitimacy stems from the consent of the governed.

2. Lawfulness of birth or origin; directness of descent as affecting the royal succession.

• legitimateness (much less common)

• illegitimacy