JUSTIFY • FREE TRANSLATOR.ORG • 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

... Sandy's orphans. Since Reuben had made her conscious that she was robbing them, she had gone nearer to an active hatred than ever before. And, indeed, hatred in such a case is the most natural outcome; for it is little else than the soul's perverse attempt to justify to itself ...

— The History of David Grieve • Mrs. Humphry Ward

... of the Court, I will speak a few words. I don't intend to say much, and I will trespass on foibidden ground but as little as possible. I am perfectly satisfied that there has not been one fact established or proved that would justify a conscientious and impartial jury in finding me guilty of treason-felony. There is an extreme paucity of evidence against me;—that everyone who has been here while this case has been proceeded with will admit frankly and candidly. We need no stronger proof of this ...

— The Dock and the Scaffold • Unknown

... These considerations justify an account of the subject in such a work as this. And on other grounds the determination of a specific gravity is one of the operations with which an assayer should ...

— A Textbook of Assaying: For the Use of Those Connected with Mines. • Cornelius Beringer and John Jacob Beringer

... my dearest love, with a very uncertain opportunity of writing to you, but, such as it is, I shall take advantage of it, for I cannot resist the wish of saying a few words to you. You must have received many letters from me lately, if my writing unceasingly, at least, may justify this hope. Several vessels have sailed, all laden with my letters. My expressions of heartfelt grief must even have added to your distress. What a dreadful thing is absence! I never experienced before all the horrors ...

— Memoirs, Correspondence and Manuscripts of General Lafayette • Lafayette

... of these persons, who had been delivered from more than usually black thoughts, stopped the little fellow and gave him some money with this remark: "You see what sometimes comes of looking pleased." If he had looked pleased before, he had now to look both pleased and mystified. For my part, I justify this encouragement of smiling rather than tearful children; I do not wish to pay for tears anywhere but upon the stage; but I am prepared to deal largely in the opposite commodity. A happy man or woman is a better thing to find than a five-pound note. He or she is a radiating focus of ...

— Essays of Robert Louis Stevenson • Robert Louis Stevenson

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