illegitimate child

Definitions

(Noun) a child born out of wedlock, meaning that he/she was born before the marriage was concluded

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1. A child born to an unmarried woman or to a married woman whose husband is not the child's biological father. In The Dictionary of Bias-Free Usage (1991) Rosalie Maggio, on the basis that ' no human being is illegitimate ' recommends the following alternatives: child of unmarried parents / child of unknown father.

SYNONYMS: adulterine child; bachelor's baby; baseborn; base-begotten child; base-son; blankard; a blotch on the escutcheon; bastardly gullion; born in the vestry; born on the wrong side of the blanket (or covers); a blotch of the escutcheon; born out of wedlock; bush child; by-blow (-chop; -scape; -slip); catch colt; chance child; come-by-chance; come through the side door; fatherless child; filius nullius; fruit of adultery; illegitimate child; left-handed son/daughter; love begotten child; love child; merry-begotten; misborn; natural child; offspring of adultery; side-stroke; sinfant; slip-up; spurious offspring; whore's kitling; whore's son; woods colt; whorephan; whoreson.
SEE ALSO: break a leg.

QUOTE: Tuco (Eli Wallach) to Blondie (Clint Eastwood) in The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1967): ' You know what you are? You don't? I do! Everybody does. You're the son of a thousand fathers, all bastards like you.'

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(Expression) An illegitimate child is a child born out of wedlock, meaning that he/she was born before the marriage was concluded. So for an illegitimate child to be legitimate the marriage must be concluded in accordance to customary common law.