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Spectacular vs Legitimate - What's the difference?

spectacular | legitimate |

As adjectives the difference between spectacular and legitimate

is that spectacular is amazing or worthy of special notice while legitimate is in accordance with the law or established legal forms and requirements; lawful.

As a noun spectacular

is a spectacular display.

As a verb legitimate is

to make legitimate, lawful, or valid; especially, to put in the position or state of a legitimate person before the law, by legal means.

spectacular

English

Adjective

(en adjective)
  • Amazing or worthy of special notice
  • The parachutists were spectacular .
  • (dated) Related to, or having the character of, a spectacle or entertainment
  • the merely spectacular
  • * G. Hickes
  • Spectacular sports.
  • * {{quote-news, 1910, August 21, Andre Tridon, Europe Flirts with Argentina to Win Her Rich Trade, The New York Times citation
  • , passage=Those apparently insignificant events which really make history are seldom featured in the press; the merely spectacular too frequently crowds the essential out of the public sheets.}}
  • Relating to spectacles, or glasses for the eyes.
  • Derived terms

    * spectacularly * unspectacular

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A spectacular display.
  • * 2010 , "Under the volcano", The Economist , 16 Oct 2010:
  • Though business has more or less held up so far, a series of drug-related spectaculars sparked an exodus of the city's upper class this summer.

    legitimate

    English

    Etymology 1

    From . Originally "lawfully begotten," from (etyl) legitimer and directly from

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • In accordance with the law or established legal forms and requirements; lawful.
  • *
  • Conforming to known principles, or established or accepted rules or standards; valid.
  • legitimate''' reasoning; a '''legitimate standard or method
  • * (rfdate) Macaulay
  • Tillotson still keeps his place as a legitimate English classic.
  • Authentic, real, genuine.
  • legitimate''' poems of Chaucer; '''legitimate inscriptions
  • (senseid)Lawfully begotten, i.e., born to a legally married couple.
  • Relating to hereditary rights.
  • Synonyms
    (checksyns) * lawful, legal, rightful
    Antonyms
    * illegitimate, false

    Etymology 2

    Legal Latin, from legitimatus, past participle of (legitimo). See above for antecedents

    Verb

    (legitimat)
  • To make legitimate, lawful, or valid; especially, to put in the position or state of a legitimate person before the law, by legal means.
  • Usage notes
    * Forms of (legitimize) are about twice as common as forms of the verb legitimate in the US. * Forms of legitimate are somewhat more common than the forms of the verbs (legitimize) and (legitimise) in the UK combined.
    Synonyms
    * legitimize
    Derived terms
    * delegitimate