Legal Dictionary

justify

Definition of justify

Alternative spellings

  • justifie (obsolete)

Etymology

    From Latin justificare ("make just"), from justus, iustus ("just"), + to make, from facere.

Pronunciation

Verb

to justify (third-person singular simple present justifies, present participle justifying, simple past and past participle justified)

  1. (transitive) To provide an acceptable explanation for.

    How can you justify spending so much money on clothes?
    Paying too much for car insurance is not justified.


  2. (transitive) To be a good, acceptable reason for.

    Nothing can justify your rude behaviour last night.

  3. (transitive) To arrange (text) on a page or a computer screen such that the left and right ends of all lines within paragraphs are aligned.

    The text will look better justified.

Related terms

References:

  1. Wiktionary. Published under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.



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