JUSTIFY • FREE TRANSLATOR.ORG • Definition of Justify

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/dʒˈəstəfˌaɪ/ Listen

Justify

verb

(past & past part. justified; pres. part. justifying)

Show to be reasonable or provide adequate ground for. Synonym: warrant. "The end justifies the means"

Show to be right by providing justification or proof. Synonym: vindicate.

Defend, explain, clear away, or make excuses for by reasoning. Synonyms: apologise, apologize, excuse, rationalise, rationalize. "He rationalized his lack of success"

Let off the hook. Synonyms: absolve, free. Antonym: blame.

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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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