English
justify
Etymology

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

Pronunciation
  • IPA: /ˈd͡ʒʌstɪfaɪ/
Verb

justify (justifies, present participle justifying; simple past and past participle justified)

  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.
    • 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 ↗:
      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.
  2. (transitive) To be a good, acceptable reason for; warrant.
    Nothing can justify your rude behaviour last night.
  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.
    The text will look better justified.
  4. (transitive) To absolve, and declare to be free of blame or sin.
    • 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]:
      I cannot justify whom the law condemns.
    • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC ↗, 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.
  5. (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, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC ↗, 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.
  6. (transitive) To prove; to ratify; to confirm.
    • c. 1607–1608, William Shakeſpeare, The Late, And much admired Play, Called Pericles, Prince of Tyre. […], London: Imprinted at London for Henry Goſſon,  […], published 1609, →OCLC ↗, [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. 1610–1611 (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]:
      […] 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.
  7. (legal) 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. (legal) To qualify (oneself) as a surety by taking oath to the ownership of sufficient property.
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