JUSTIFY • DICTIONARY ONE.COM • Definition of Justify

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/dʒˈəstəfˌaɪ/ Listen

verb

Justify v. t. (past & past part. justified; pres. part. justifying)

1.

To prove or show to be just; to vindicate; to maintain or defend as conformable to law, right, justice, propriety, or duty. "That to the height of this great argument I may assert eternal providence, And justify the ways of God to men." "Unless the oppression is so extreme as to justify revolution, it would not justify the evil of breaking up a government."

2.

To pronounce free from guilt or blame; to declare or prove to have done that which is just, right, proper, etc.; to absolve; to exonerate; to clear. "I can not justify whom the law condemns."

3.

(Theol.) To treat as if righteous and just; to pardon; to exculpate; to absolve. "By him all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses."

4.

To prove; to ratify; to confirm. (Obs.)

5.

(Print.) To make even or true, as lines of type, by proper spacing; to align (text) at the left (left justify) or right (right justify) margins of a column or page, or at both margins; to adjust, as type. See Justification, 4.

6.

(Law)

(a)

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.

(b)

To qualify (one's self) as a surety by taking oath to the ownership of sufficient property. "The production of bail in court, who there justify themselves against the exception of the plaintiff."

Synonyms: To defend; maintain; vindicate; excuse; exculpate; absolve; exonerate.

Justify v. i.

1.

(Print.) To form an even surface or true line with something else; to fit exactly.

2.

(Law) To take oath to the ownership of property sufficient to qualify one's self as bail or surety.

See images of 'Justify'

Etymology of 'Justify'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Justify" Quotes from Famous Books

... not Reason Inconsistency Hope in Humanity Self-love in Religion Limitation of Love of Poetry Humility of the Amiable Temper in Argument Patriarchal Government Callous self-conceit A Librarian Trimming Death Love an Act of the Will Wedded Union Difference between Hobbes and Spinosa The End may justify the Means Negative Thought Man's return to Heaven Young Prodigies Welch names German Language The Universe Harberous An Admonition To Thee Cherubim and Seraphim continually do cry Definition of Miracle Death, and grounds of belief in a Future State Hatred of Injustice Religion The Apostles' ...

— Literary Remains (1) • Coleridge

... West Point experiments by General Totten, would seem to prove them abundantly capable of doing this. Against such proofs the mere ad captandum assertion of their incapacity can have but little weight—certainly not enough to justify the abandonment of a system approved by the best military authorities of this country and Europe, and sanctioned by ...

— Elements of Military Art and Science • Henry Wager Halleck

... quite a youth, and escaped to Holland, from which he had only returned a few months previous to the incident of this narrative. Contemporaries spoke of him as being most accomplished, and of gallant bearing. The real nature of the dispute has not descended sufficiently authentic to justify more minute reference than that rumour assigned it to have been an accusation that Alan was imprudently intimate with the handsome widow of Strone (a Bhanntrach Ruadh). The delicate insinuation was resented by Alan in language probably more plain than polite. Mr Cameron ...

— The Celtic Magazine, Vol. 1, No. 3, January 1876 • Various

... reverence, The holy habit of obediency, Must I pluck live asunder from thy name? Oh, do it not!—I pray thee do it not!— Thou wilt not— Thou canst not end in this! It would reduce All human creatures to disloyalty Against the nobleness of their own nature. 'Twill justify the vulgar misbelief Which holdeth nothing noble in free-will, And trusts itself to impotence alone, Made powerful only in ...

— Blackwoods Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 59, No. 365, March, 1846 • Various

... doctrine, but willing to uplift thy testimony against the errors and arts of the Church of Rome. At present thy prejudices occupy thy mind like the strong keeper of the house mentioned in Scripture. But, remember, thou wilt soon be called upon to justify what thou hast said, and I trust to see thy name rank high amongst those by whom the prey shall be rent ...

— The World's Greatest Books, Vol VII • Various

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