justify
Americanverb (used with object)
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justifies,
present (3rd person singular)
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justified,
past participle, past
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justifying
present participle
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to show (an act, claim, statement, etc.) to be just or right.
The end does not always justify the means.
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to defend or uphold as warranted or well-grounded.
Don't try to justify his rudeness.
- Synonyms:
- excuse
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Printing.
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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.
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to level and square (a strike).
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verb (used without object)
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justifies,
present (3rd person singular)
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justified,
past participle, past
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justifying
present participle
-
Law.
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to show a satisfactory reason or excuse for something done.
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to qualify as bail or surety.
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Printing. (of a line of type) to fit exactly into a desired length.
verb
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(often passive) to prove or see to be just or valid; vindicate
he was certainly justified in taking the money
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to show to be reasonable; warrant or substantiate
his behaviour justifies our suspicion
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to declare or show to be free from blame or guilt; absolve
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law
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to show good reason in court for (some action taken)
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to show adequate grounds for doing (that with which a person is charged)
to justify a libel
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(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
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Protestant theol to account or declare righteous by the imputation of Christ's merits to the sinner
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RC theol to change from sinfulness to righteousness by the transforming effects of grace
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(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
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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justifiernoun
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prejustifyverb (used with object)
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rejustifyverb (used with object)
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justifyinglyadverb
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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justifysimple
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justifiessimple
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have justifiedperfect
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has justifiedperfect
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am justifyingprogressive
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are justifyingprogressive
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is justifyingprogressive
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have been justifyingperfect progressive
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has been justifyingperfect progressive
Past
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justifiedsimple
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had justifiedperfect
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was justifyingprogressive
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were justifyingprogressive
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had been justifyingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of justify
First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English justifien, from Old French justifier, from Late Latin jūstificāre, equivalent to Latin jūsti- (combining form of jūstus just 1 ) + -ficāre -fy
Explanation
To justify is to make excuses for one's actions, like the dieter who has to justify the few tiny pieces of chocolate she's sneaked in between salads. Anyone who has ever made excuses for his or her actions knows the meaning of justify, like the bank robber who justifies his latest heist by claiming he needs the bank's money to support his charitable foundation. He might think he's got a good reason for holding up the bank, but he's going to have a hard time convincing the bank's owner of his reason, or justification. To justify a line of text is to space it so that it lines up with the margin.
Vocabulary lists containing justify
The Vocabulary.com Top 1000
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Essential Academic Vocabulary for High School Students, List 3
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You Be the Judge: Jud, Jur, Jus
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
The team hopes those microbial signatures could eventually form the basis of a simple diagnostic tool that helps pest professionals determine whether termite evidence is recent enough to justify treatment.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 19, 2026
"Cole needs to step up when he comes and he needs to show these kind of numbers to get his place, keep his shirt and justify the nomination."
From BBC ● Sep. 18, 2026
Whataboutism, it seems, has become a luxury good that is much harder to justify when times are hard.
From Salon ● Sep. 18, 2026
“Nothing can justify the murder of innocent civilians. Nothing,” he says in it.
From Slate ● Sep. 17, 2026
“But I didn’t know I had to speak,” I responded, trying to justify my poor performance.
From "Breaking Through" by Francisco Jiménez
Anthropic will have to get to its own market projection without owning a declining microblogging platform, and until its documents are public, we won’t know how the company justifies it.
From Slate ● Sep. 1, 2026
That broad influence justifies the “Mother of the Blues” appellation, even if it was a marketing term to begin with.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 20, 2026
We could rearrange the portfolios differently to tamp down the risk, selecting companies that are not projected to grow so quickly, but the current market environment justifies the risk — and will reward it.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 13, 2026
Looking to add to their 2010 triumph, Spain would hope Yamal, who will turn 19 on the eve of the tie, picks the semi-final to deliver a performance that justifies his talent.
From BBC ● Jul. 12, 2026
Painting a picture that justifies her opinion of him—an underdog cursed with an ungrateful son upon whom he has showered love and concern, only to be infamously treated by that son in return.
From "In Cold Blood" by Truman Capote
Having Bryan be defined by his entirely justified terror keeps the audience engaged; the possible ways he might fail seem infinite.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 17, 2026
The German philosopher Hegel considered Sophocles’ “Antigone” the high-water mark of tragedy for the way it dramatizes the collision between two equally justified moral positions.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 11, 2026
Denton and her colleagues decided to test whether that assumption was justified.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 11, 2026
The club believe the record fee for Fernandez is justified by acquiring a proven winner at the highest level that will strengthen the midfield.
From BBC ● Sep. 2, 2026
Under the regulations, a federally funded law enforcement program or activity is unlawful if it has a racially discriminatory impact and if that impact cannot be justified by law enforcement necessity.
From "The New Jim Crow" by Michelle Alexander
“I was always justifying to myself to spend more money,” he said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 5, 2026
Understanding why he matters means understanding that the modern federal government is shaped not only by elected officials but also by attorneys who craft legal arguments justifying government action.
From Slate ● Aug. 4, 2026
In justifying that more upbeat outlook, Chipotle’s executives said they still liked their sales momentum overall.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 29, 2026
The practice is so unusual that an internal waiver justifying the choice is typically required.
From Salon ● Jul. 21, 2026
He was deciding what to do, but I knew something he did not: that the decision had already been made, and what he was doing now was just the long work of justifying it.
From "Educated" by Tara Westover
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
