legitiimillä

Legitiimillä is a Finnish adjective form used to express that something is legitimate or justified. In formal and public discourse it describes authority, decisions, or claims that are accepted as rightful or authorized. The term signals normative evaluation, not merely legality.

Legitiimillä derives from legitiimi, meaning legitimate. The word comes into Finnish through influence from Latin legitimus and has become part of standard language. As a form, legitiimillä is the singular adessive case, used to convey "with legitimacy" or "on legitimate grounds."

Usage of legitiimillä is common in political, legal, and academic contexts. It can refer to the grounds for action, the status of institutions, or the perceived justification for claims. The phrase legitiimillä perusteilla, meaning "with legitimate grounds," is frequently encountered in debates about governance, policy, or constitutional legitimacy. The expression can appear with various nouns, such as perusteilla (grounds), asema (position), or valtuutus (mandate).

Grammatical notes: legitiimillä functions as a descriptive modifier that pairs with a complement to indicate legitimacy. It often appears in evaluative statements about whether a decision, power, or argument is accepted as legitimate by law, by public opinion, or by ethical standards. Nuance-wise, legitiimi emphasizes broad acceptance and normative legitimacy, rather than mere compliance with the letter of the law, which is more closely associated with laillinen.

Related terms include legitiimi, legitimiteetti, laillinen, and oikeutus, which explore legitimacy from linguistic, ethical, legal, and political perspectives.