justify
/ˈd͡ʒʌstɪfaɪ/
Word Rarity
Uncommon
Frequency: 4.14 in modern English
20
Scrabble Score
7
Letters
3
Syllables
7
Unique Chars
Meaning
verb
To arrange (text) on a page or a computer screen such that the left and right ends of all lines within paragraphs are aligned.
Transitive verb
verb
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.
verb
To qualify (oneself) as a surety by taking oath to the ownership of sufficient property.
Example Sentences
- "How can you justify spending so much money on clothes?"
- "Paying too much for car insurance is not justified."
- "What in me is dark Illumine, what is low raise and support; That to the highth of this great Argument I may assert th’ Eternal Providence, And justifie the wayes of God to men."
- "Like all public expenditure, Access for All has to compete with other deserving demands. For example, how can you justify spending a couple of million pounds installing lifts at a station such as Achnasheen, which has 2,420 annual users, when that sum would buy a life-saving machine for a hospital? How do you decide on a minimum number of annual station users to justify that expenditure?"
- "Nothing can justify your rude behaviour last night."
- "Unless the oppression is so extreme as to justify revolution, it would not justify the evil of breaking up a government, under an abstract constitutional right to do so."
Etymology
From Middle English justifien, from Old French justifier, from Late Latin justificare (“make just”), from Latin justus, iustus (“just”) + ficare (“make”), from facere, equivalent to just + -ify.