JUSTIFY (justified)

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

Irregular inflected form: justified   

 Dictionary entry overview: What does justify mean? 

• JUSTIFY (verb)
  The verb JUSTIFY has 3 senses:

1. show to be right by providing justification or proof

2. (used of God) declare innocent; absolve from the penalty of sin

3. adjust the spaces between words

  Familiarity information: JUSTIFY used as a verb is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• JUSTIFY (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they justify    ... he / she / it justifies   
Past simple: justified   
Past participle: justified   
-ing form: justifying   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Show to be right by providing justification or proof

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Synonyms:

justify; vindicate

Context example:

vindicate a claim

Hypernyms (to "justify" is one way to...):

maintain; uphold (support against an opponent)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "justify"):

excuse; explain (serve as a reason or cause or justification of)

legitimate (show or affirm to be just and legitimate)

warrant (provide adequate grounds to justify (a certain course of action))

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Derivation:

justifiable (capable of being justified)

justification (something (such as a fact or circumstance) that shows an action to be reasonable or necessary)

justification (a statement in explanation of some action or belief)

justificative (providing justification)

justificative (attempting to justify or defend in speech or writing)

justificatory (providing justification)

justificatory (attempting to justify or defend in speech or writing)

justifier (a person who argues to defend or justify some policy or institution)

Sense 2

Meaning:

(used of God) declare innocent; absolve from the penalty of sin

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Hypernyms (to "justify" is one way to...):

absolve; free (let off the hook)

Domain category:

theological system; theology (a particular system or school of religious beliefs and teachings)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s somebody of something

Derivation:

justification (the act of defending or explaining or making excuses for by reasoning)

justificative; justificatory (providing justification)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Adjust the spaces between words

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Context example:

justify the margins

Hypernyms (to "justify" is one way to...):

adjust; correct; set (alter or regulate so as to achieve accuracy or conform to a standard)

Domain category:

printing (the business of producing printed material for sale or distribution)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

 Context examples 

It may have been a mistaken one, or you may have ceased to justify it.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

No, sir; I am not on such terms with my relatives as would justify me in asking favours of them—but I shall advertise.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

And yet how many were the examples to justify even the blackest suspicions!

(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)

I meant that I could see nothing unusual—nothing to justify what you have said.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

All his sanguine expectations, all his confidence had been justified.

(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)

No captain, sir, would be justified in going to sea at all if he had ground enough to say that.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

“To be justified in your eyes, he must do it in the most complete uncertainty of any provision.”

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

When the time proposed drew near, Mrs. Weston's fears were justified in the arrival of a letter of excuse.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

Surely it will offend your readers, and surely that is why the editors are justified in refusing your work.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

If you will treat me as a friend and trust me, you may find that I will justify your trust.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)