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justify

[juhs-tuh-fahy]

Example Sentences Origin

verb (used with object)

to show (an act, claim, statement, etc.) to be just or right: The end does not always justify the means.

to defend or uphold as warranted or well-grounded: Don't try to justify his rudeness.

Theology. to declare innocent or guiltless; absolve; acquit.

Printing.

to make (a line of type) a desired length by spacing the words and letters, especially so that full lines in a column have even margins both on the left and on the right.

to level and square (a strike).

verb (used without object)

Law.

to show a satisfactory reason or excuse for something done.

to qualify as bail or surety.

Printing. (of a line of type) to fit exactly into a desired length.

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Justify is an LSAT word you need to know.

So is pundit. Does it mean:

asserting that something is true of all members of a certain class or of an indefinite part of that class, leaving distinctions within the class aside

a learned person, expert, or authority who makes comments or judgments in an authoritative manner

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Origin:
1250–1300; Middle English justifien < Old French justifier < Late Latin jūstificāre, equivalent to Latin jūsti- (combining form of jūstus just¹) + -ficāre -fy

Related forms

jus·ti·fi·er, noun

jus·ti·fy·ing·ly, adverb

half-jus·ti·fied, adjective

pre·jus·ti·fy, verb (used with object), -fied, -fy·ing.

re·jus·ti·fy, verb (used with object), -fied, -fy·ing.

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un·jus·ti·fied, adjective

well-jus·ti·fied, adjective

COLLAPSE

Synonyms
1. vindicate; validate. 2. excuse.

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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Link To justify

Example Sentences

In the current economic climate, that's hard to justify.

Only then will I try to justify its price.

Don't justify holding back by saying that you don't know the answers; at times like this, nobody does.

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Collins

World English Dictionary

justify (ˈdʒʌstɪˌfaɪ)

—vb , -fies, -fying, -fied
1.	(often passive) to prove or see to be just or valid; vindicate: he was certainly justified in taking the money
2.	to show to be reasonable; warrant or substantiate: his behaviour justifies our suspicion
3.	to declare or show to be free from blame or guilt; absolve
4.	law
	a. to show good reason in court for (some action taken)
	b. to show adequate grounds for doing (that with which a person is charged): to justify a libel
5.	(also intr) printing, computing to adjust the spaces between words in (a line of type or data) so that it is of the required length or (of a line of type or data) to fit exactly
6.	a. Protestant theol to account or declare righteous by the imputation of Christ's merits to the sinner
	b. RC theol to change from sinfulness to righteousness by the transforming effects of grace
7.	(also intr) law to prove (a person) to have sufficient means to act as surety, etc, or (of a person) to qualify to provide bail or surety

[C14: from Old French justifier, from Latin justificāre, from jūstusjust + facere to make]

'justifier

—n

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
Cite This Source

Etymonline

Word Origin & History

justify

c.1300, "to administer justice," also "to show (something) to be just or right," from O.Fr. justifer, from L. justificare "act justly toward, make just," from justificus "dealing justly, righteous," from justus "just" (see just (adj.)) + root of facere "to do" (see

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factitious). Meaning "to make exact" (now largely restricted to typesetting) is from 1551.

COLLAPSE

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Matching Quote

"Children of the same family, the same blood, with the same first associations and habits, have some means of enjoyment in their power, which no subsequent connections can supply; and it must be by a long and unnatural estrangement, by a divorce which no subsequent connection can justify, if such precious remains of the earliest attachments are ever entirely outlived."

-Jane Austen

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