JUSTIFY • FREE-TRANSLATOR.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

... yet it is a mistake to predicate breathing, and especially inspiration, upon a more or less violent action of the diaphragm and the abdominal muscles. Both diaphragm and the abdominal muscles are, indeed, used in breathing, but not to the forcible extent that would justify applying the term "diaphragmatic" or "abdominal" to the ...

— The Voice - Its Production, Care and Preservation • Frank E. Miller

... principle of amendment found its way into the Constitution of the United States—a principle so just that by it we are enabled in these bitter days to faithfully withstand the usurpation that seeks to justify itself by appealing to the right of revolution. For in the principle of amendment (as has heretofore been stated in this magazine) the right of revolution was at the same time recognized and exalted; and by it a means of ...

— The Continental Monthly, Vol. 6, No 3, September 1864 - Devoted To Literature And National Policy • Various

... glance, and rather abrupt manners be thought to justify comparisons with the devil or a hyaena, the art of historical portraiture will assuredly have to be learnt over again in conformity with impressionist methods. That Lowe was a gentleman is affirmed by Mrs. Smith (nee Grant), who, in later years, when prejudiced against him by O'Meara's ...

— The Life of Napoleon I (Volumes, 1 and 2) • John Holland Rose

... Wilkinson: "I beg I may hear no more of knocking down. Don't add to your fault by working yourself into a passion with me. Some provocation you certainly have had, but nothing can justify such unrestrained fury. Consider what would have been your condition at present, if your rage had been fatal to your cousin; it would have availed you little to have pleaded the aggravation; your whole life would have been embittered by the indulgence of your vengeful feelings—one ...

— Louis' School Days - A Story for Boys • E. J. May

... fitness for this business. So the committee made itself a great power, and therefore also a great complication, in the war machinery; and though it was sometimes useful, yet, upon a final balancing of its long account, it failed to justify its existence, as, indeed, was to have been expected from the outset.[155] In the present discussions concerning an advance of the army, its members strenuously insisted upon immediate action, and their official influence brought much strength ...

— Abraham Lincoln, Vol. I. • John T. Morse

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