justify
English
Alternative forms
- justifie (obsolete)
Etymology
From Middle English justifien, borrowed from Old French justifier, from Late Latin justificare (“make just”), from Latin justus, iustus (“just”) + ficare (“make”), from facere, equivalent to just + -ify.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈdʒʌstɪfaɪ/
- Hyphenation: jus‧ti‧fy
Audio (US) (file)
Verb
justify (third-person singular simple present justifies, present participle justifying, simple past and past participle justified)
- (transitive) To provide an acceptable explanation for.
- How can you justify spending so much money on clothes?
- Paying too much for car insurance is not justified.
- (transitive) To be a good, acceptable reason for; warrant.
- Nothing can justify your rude behaviour last night.
- 1861, Edward Everett, The Great Issues Now Before the Country, An oration delivered at the New York Academy of Music, July 4, 1861, New York: James G. Gregory, p. 8,
- Unless the oppression is so extreme as to justify revolution, it would not justify the evil of breaking up a government, under an abstract constitutional right to do so.
- (transitive) To arrange (text) on a page or a computer screen such that the left and right ends of all lines within paragraphs are aligned.
- The text will look better justified.
- (transitive) To absolve, and declare to be free of blame or sin.
- c. 1590, William Shakespeare, Henry VI, Part 2, Act II, Scene 3,
- I cannot justify whom the law condemns.
- 1611, King James Version of the Bible, Acts 13.39,
- And by him all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses.
- c. 1590, William Shakespeare, Henry VI, Part 2, Act II, Scene 3,
- (reflexive) To give reasons for one’s actions; to make an argument to prove that one is in the right.
- She felt no need to justify herself for deciding not to invite him.
- 1611, King James Version of the Bible, Luke 16.15,
- And he said unto them, Ye are they which justify yourselves before men; but God knoweth your hearts: for that which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God.
- 1848, Anne Brontë, The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, Chapter 13,
- […] I was equally unable to justify myself and unwilling to acknowledge my errors […]
- To prove; to ratify; to confirm.
- c. 1608, William Shakespeare, Pericles, Prince of Tyre, Act V, Scene 1,
- She is not dead at Tarsus, as she should have been,
- By savage Cleon: she shall tell thee all;
- When thou shalt kneel, and justify in knowledge
- She is thy very princess.
- c. 1610, William Shakespeare, The Winter’s Tale, Act I, Scene 2,
- […] say
- My wife’s a hobby-horse, deserves a name
- As rank as any flax-wench that puts to
- Before her troth-plight: say’t and justify’t.
- c. 1608, William Shakespeare, Pericles, Prince of Tyre, Act V, Scene 1,
- (law) To show (a person) to have had a sufficient legal reason for an act that has been made the subject of a charge or accusation.
- (law) To qualify (oneself) as a surety by taking oath to the ownership of sufficient property.
- 1839, John Bouvier, A Law Dictionary Adapted to the Constitution and Laws of the United States of America and of the Several States of the American Union, Philadelphia: T. & J.W. Johnson, Volume I, p. 557,
- JUSTIFYING BAIL, practice, is the production of bail in court, who there justify themselves against the exception of the plaintiff.
- 1839, John Bouvier, A Law Dictionary Adapted to the Constitution and Laws of the United States of America and of the Several States of the American Union, Philadelphia: T. & J.W. Johnson, Volume I, p. 557,
Related terms
Translations
provide an acceptable explanation
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give a good, acceptable reason for something
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arrange lines on a page or computer screen
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to absolve, and declare to be free of blame or sin
- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout#Translations.
Translations to be checked
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