Justify

/ˈd͡ʒʌstɪfaɪ/ · verb

Meaning

(transitive) To provide an acceptable explanation for..

Definitions by Sense

1. (transitive) To provide an acceptable explanation for.
2. (transitive) To be a good reason behind a normally-unacceptable action; to warrant.
3. (transitive, typography) To arrange (text) on a page or a computer screen such that the left and right ends of all lines within paragraphs are aligned.
4. (transitive) To absolve, and declare to be free of blame or sin.
5. (reflexive) To give reasons for one’s actions; to make an argument to prove that one is in the right.
6. (transitive) To prove; to ratify; to confirm.
7. (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.
8. (law) To qualify (oneself) as a surety by taking oath to the ownership of sufficient property.

Example Sentences

How can you justify spending so much money on clothes?

Paying too much for car insurance is not justified.

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.

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?

Nothing can justify your rude behaviour last night.

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.

Preservation of two railway routes between Belfast and Derry could no longer be justified and one of them must go.

The text will look better justified.

Synonyms for justify

Antonyms for justify

Related Words

Word Forms

• justifies
• justifying
• justified
• justifie

Usage Notes

Choose a synonym only when it preserves the intended meaning, tone, and grammar of the full sentence.

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