Legitimate is an adjective meaning legal, following standard or rules, or well-founded (as in a legitimate argument.) Legitimacy is a noun describing the state of being legitimate. "He questioned the document's legitimacy." = He thought the document might be fake. Legitimization is a noun that means the process by which something is made legitimization. "He worked hard on the legitimization of the document." = He tried to prove the document was not fake. Legitimize is a verb meaning to make something legitimate. "The judge officially legitimized the document." = The judge declared the document to be valid and legal. Note: British use 'legitimise', Americans spell it 'legitimize'. Just remember which country you're in when you spell it.

"Legitimate" is an adjective. "Legitimacy" is the noun form of that adjective. It is a characteristic (just as "kindness" is a characteristic & the noun form of "kind.") "To legitimize" is a verb. It means "to make (something) legitimate" "Legitimization" is the NOUN form of that verb, or the act of making something legitimate. Some example sentences: Is the rumor LEGITIMATE ? I'm not sure about the rumor's LEGITIMACY. Has any qualified person LEGITIMIZED the rumor? The LEGITIMIZATION of this rumor would really change things. I hope this helps! Let me know if you have any questions.

These are members of the same word family. Before a person knows a word, all the members of the word family must be known. legitimate (adjective) - authentic or lawful legitimise or legitimatise (verb) - to make legitimate legitimacy (noun) - the quality of being legitimate legitimization (noun) - the act of legitimatising