Dictionary

justify en · VERB

Pronunciation

• (US) audio
• /ˈd͡ʒʌstɪfaɪ/

Etymology

From Middle English justifien, from Old French justifier, from Late Latin justificare (“make just”), from Latin justus, iustus (“just”) + ficare (“make”), from facere, equivalent to just + -ify.

Meanings

1. (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.
   • Like all public expenditure, Access for All has to compete with other deserving demands. For example, how can you justify spending a couple of million pounds installing lifts at a station such as Achnasheen, which has 2,420 annual users, when that sum would buy a life-saving machine for a hospital? How do you decide on a minimum number of annual station users to justify that expenditure? 2023 August 23, Anthony Lambert, “Expanding the family and disabled markets”, in RAIL, number 990, page 53:
   • What in me is dark Illumine, what is low raise and support; That to the highth of this great Argument I may assert th’ Eternal Providence, And justifie the wayes of God to men. 1667, John Milton, “Book I”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC:
2. (transitive) To be a good reason behind a normally-unacceptable action; to warrant.
   • Nothing can justify your rude behaviour last night.
   • Preservation of two railway routes between Belfast and Derry could no longer be justified and one of them must go. 1956 May, “Transport in Ulster”, in Railway Magazine, page 280:
   • 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. 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, page 8:
3. (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.
4. (transitive) To absolve, and declare to be free of blame or sin.
   • I cannot justify whom the law condemns. 1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Second Part of Henry the Sixt, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies. […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene iii]:
   • And by him all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses. 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Acts 13:39:
5. (reflexive) To give reasons for one’s actions; to make an argument to prove that one is in the right.
   • 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. 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Luke 16:15:
   • […] I was equally unable to justify myself and unwilling to acknowledge my errors […] 1848, Anne Brontë, “Chapter 13”, in The Tenant of Wildfell Hall:
   • She felt no need to justify herself for deciding not to invite him.
6. (transitive) To prove; to ratify; to confirm.
   • […] 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. 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Winters Tale”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene ii]:
   • 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. 1607–1608 (date written), William Shakespeare, [George Wilkins?], The Late, and Much Admired Play, Called Pericles, Prince of Tyre. […], London: […] [William White and Thomas Creede] for Henry Gosson, […], published 1609, →OCLC, [Act V, scene i]:
7. 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.
8. To qualify (oneself) as a surety by taking oath to the ownership of sufficient property.
   • J'USTIFYING 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, volume I, Philadelphia: T. & J.W. Johnson, page 557:

Forms

Deriveds

self-justify · justifyingly · justifying space · unjustify · dexify · overjustify · the ends justify the means · rejustify

Relateds

justifiably · just · justifiable · unjustified · -fy · justification

Synonyms

vindicate

Translations (162)

bg оправда́вам (provide an acceptable explanation) · bg извиня́ (excuse something bad, warrant) · oc justificar (provide an acceptable explanation) · eo argumenti (provide an acceptable explanation) · pl usprawiedliwiać (excuse something bad, warrant) · ru объясня́ть (excuse something bad, warrant) · bg оправда́я (provide an acceptable explanation) · nb rettferdiggjøre (provide an acceptable explanation) · es explicar (provide an acceptable explanation) · cmn 辯解 /辩解 (provide an acceptable explanation) · sl upravičiti (provide an acceptable explanation) · tr doğrulamak (excuse something bad, warrant) · hu indokol (provide an acceptable explanation) · es legitimar (excuse something bad, warrant) · sh òprāvdati (provide an acceptable explanation) · sq arsyetoj (provide an acceptable explanation) · el δικαιώνω (to absolve, and declare to be free of blame or sin) · cs zarovnat (arrange lines on a page or computer screen) · fi tehdä tasapalstaksi (arrange lines on a page or computer screen) · cs ospravedlnit (provide an acceptable explanation) · ru объясни́ть (provide an acceptable explanation) · gl xustificar (provide an acceptable explanation) · it giustificare (excuse something bad, warrant) · pl usprawiedliwiać (provide an acceptable explanation) · tr haklı göstermek (provide an acceptable explanation) · fr justifier (arrange lines on a page or computer screen) · da retfærdiggøre (provide an acceptable explanation) · ro justifica (provide an acceptable explanation) · el δικαιολογώ (provide an acceptable explanation) · cs ospravedlňovat (provide an acceptable explanation) · nl rechtvaardigen (excuse something bad, warrant) · el αιτιολογώ (provide an acceptable explanation) · cy cyfiawnhau (provide an acceptable explanation) · fr justifier (provide an acceptable explanation) · nl rechtvaardigen (provide an acceptable explanation) · ru извини́ть (excuse something bad, warrant) · nb begrunne (provide an acceptable explanation) · cmn 辯護 /辩护 (provide an acceptable explanation) · de rechtfertigen (provide an acceptable explanation) · ka გასწორება (arrange lines on a page or computer screen) · fr justifier (excuse something bad, warrant) · pl usprawiedliwić (excuse something bad, warrant) · es razonar (provide an acceptable explanation) · ru извиня́ть (excuse something bad, warrant) · el στοιχίζω (arrange lines on a page or computer screen) · nb begrunne (excuse something bad, warrant) · da begrunde (excuse something bad, warrant) · ms justifikasikan (excuse something bad, warrant) · pl uzasadniać (excuse something bad, warrant) · ka ახსნა (excuse something bad, warrant) · be апра́ўдваць (provide an acceptable explanation) · bg опроща́вам (to absolve, and declare to be free of blame or sin) · uk ви́рівняти (arrange lines on a page or computer screen) · lt pateisinti (provide an acceptable explanation) · mk оправдува (provide an acceptable explanation) · mi parahau (excuse something bad, warrant) · ca justificar (arrange lines on a page or computer screen) · es ameritar (excuse something bad, warrant) · ru отпусти́ть грехи́ (to absolve, and declare to be free of blame or sin) · sco justifee (excuse something bad, warrant) · mk оправда (provide an acceptable explanation) · pt justificar (arrange lines on a page or computer screen) · ar بَرَّرَ (provide an acceptable explanation) · fi perustella (provide an acceptable explanation) · hu rendez (arrange lines on a page or computer screen) · tr hizaya sokmak (arrange lines on a page or computer screen) · sh о̀пра̄вдати (provide an acceptable explanation) · ru отпуска́ть грехи́ (to absolve, and declare to be free of blame or sin) · mi whakawhaihuruhuru (provide an acceptable explanation) · pt justificar (provide an acceptable explanation) · mi parahau (provide an acceptable explanation) · ru обоснова́ть (excuse something bad, warrant) · pl uzasadnić (provide an acceptable explanation) · pt justificar (excuse something bad, warrant) · uk оправда́ти (provide an acceptable explanation) · hu indokol (excuse something bad, warrant) · mi whakatautika (arrange lines on a page or computer screen) · cmn 聲辯 /声辩 (provide an acceptable explanation) · ca justificar (provide an acceptable explanation) · pl justować (arrange lines on a page or computer screen) · tr teyyit etmek (excuse something bad, warrant) · ru оправда́ть (provide an acceptable explanation) · sk ospravedlniť (provide an acceptable explanation) · el ευθυγραμμίζω (arrange lines on a page or computer screen) · es justificar (arrange lines on a page or computer screen) · mi tautoko (provide an acceptable explanation) · eo motivi (provide an acceptable explanation) · sco justifee (provide an acceptable explanation) · es merecer (excuse something bad, warrant) · uk опра́вдувати (provide an acceptable explanation) · bg подравня́вам (arrange lines on a page or computer screen) · sh prȃvdati (provide an acceptable explanation) · ru вы́ровнять (arrange lines on a page or computer screen) · cs ospravedlnit (excuse something bad, warrant) · fi oikeuttaa (excuse something bad, warrant) · ka ახსნა (provide an acceptable explanation) · bg обясня́вам (excuse something bad, warrant) · bg извиня́вам (excuse something bad, warrant) · uk випра́вдувати (provide an acceptable explanation) · ru обосно́вывать (excuse something bad, warrant) · fa توجیه کردن (provide an acceptable explanation) · pl wyjustować (arrange lines on a page or computer screen) · ru объясня́ть (provide an acceptable explanation) · pox antvardol să (provide an acceptable explanation) · hu igazol (provide an acceptable explanation) · sv frita från skuld (to absolve, and declare to be free of blame or sin) · ru выра́внивать (arrange lines on a page or computer screen) · sh пра̑вдати (provide an acceptable explanation) · cy cyfiawnhau (excuse something bad, warrant) · es legitimar (provide an acceptable explanation) · eo motivi (excuse something bad, warrant) · lt pasiteisinti (provide an acceptable explanation) · ka განმარტება (provide an acceptable explanation) · ka გამართლება (excuse something bad, warrant) · da begrunde (provide an acceptable explanation) · de ausrichten (arrange lines on a page or computer screen) · la iustifico (arrange lines on a page or computer screen) · be апраўда́ць (provide an acceptable explanation) · pl usprawiedliwić (provide an acceptable explanation) · fi perustella (excuse something bad, warrant) · ca justificar (excuse something bad, warrant) · ja 言い開く (provide an acceptable explanation) · uk виправдо́вувати (provide an acceptable explanation) · pl uzasadniać (provide an acceptable explanation) · ka სწორება (arrange lines on a page or computer screen) · ru объясни́ть (excuse something bad, warrant) · sl upravičevati (provide an acceptable explanation) · ka მტკიცება (excuse something bad, warrant) · sv rättfärdiggöra (to absolve, and declare to be free of blame or sin) · sk ospravedlňovať (provide an acceptable explanation) · eo argumenti (excuse something bad, warrant) · it giustificare (arrange lines on a page or computer screen) · la iustifico (excuse something bad, warrant) · es cohonestar (excuse something bad, warrant) · es justificar (provide an acceptable explanation) · hu igazít (arrange lines on a page or computer screen) · de rechtfertigen (excuse something bad, warrant) · uk вирі́внювати (arrange lines on a page or computer screen) · ru опра́вдывать (provide an acceptable explanation) · tr ayarlamak (arrange lines on a page or computer screen) · cs obhajovat (provide an acceptable explanation) · ka დასაბუთება (excuse something bad, warrant) · ka გამართლება (provide an acceptable explanation) · fi tasata molempiin reunoihin (arrange lines on a page or computer screen) · mi whaihuruhuru (excuse something bad, warrant) · nl uitlijnen (arrange lines on a page or computer screen) · kk ақтау (provide an acceptable explanation) · bg обясня́ (excuse something bad, warrant) · cs obhájit (provide an acceptable explanation) · sv rättfärdiga (provide an acceptable explanation) · ar سَوَّغَ (excuse something bad, warrant) · el δικαιολογώ (excuse something bad, warrant) · bg подравня́ (arrange lines on a page or computer screen) · uk ви́правдати (provide an acceptable explanation) · es absolver (to absolve, and declare to be free of blame or sin) · sq shpjegoj (excuse something bad, warrant) · it giustificare (provide an acceptable explanation) · pl uzasadnić (excuse something bad, warrant) · pt absolver (to absolve, and declare to be free of blame or sin) · de justieren (arrange lines on a page or computer screen) · es meritar (excuse something bad, warrant) · es justificar (excuse something bad, warrant)