'Justify' definitions:

Definition of 'justify'

From: WordNet
verb
Show to be reasonable or provide adequate ground for; "The emergency does not warrant all of us buying guns"; "The end justifies the means" [syn: justify, warrant]
verb
Show to be right by providing justification or proof; "vindicate a claim" [syn: justify, vindicate]
verb
Defend, explain, clear away, or make excuses for by reasoning; "rationalize the child's seemingly crazy behavior"; "he rationalized his lack of success" [syn: apologize, apologise, excuse, justify, rationalize, rationalise]
verb
Let off the hook; "I absolve you from this responsibility" [syn: absolve, justify, free] [ant: blame, fault]
verb
Adjust the spaces between words; "justify the margins"

Definition of 'Justify'

From: GCIDE
  • Justify \Jus"ti*fy\, v. i.
  • 1. (Print.) To form an even surface or true line with something else; to fit exactly. [1913 Webster]
  • 2. (Law) To take oath to the ownership of property sufficient to qualify one's self as bail or surety. [1913 Webster]

Definition of 'Justify'

From: GCIDE
  • Justify \Jus"ti*fy\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Justified; p. pr. & vb. n. Justifying.] [F. justifier, L. justificare; justus just + -ficare (in comp.) to make. See Just, a., and -fy.] [1913 Webster]
  • 1. To prove or show to be just; to vindicate; to maintain or defend as conformable to law, right, justice, propriety, or duty. [1913 Webster]
  • That to the height of this great argument I may assert eternal providence, And justify the ways of God to men. --Milton. [1913 Webster]
  • Unless the oppression is so extreme as to justify revolution, it would not justify the evil of breaking up a government. --E. Everett. [1913 Webster]
  • 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. [1913 Webster]
  • I can not justify whom the law condemns. --Shak. [1913 Webster]
  • 3. (Theol.) To treat as if righteous and just; to pardon; to exculpate; to absolve. [1913 Webster]
  • By him all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses. --Acts xiii. 39. [1913 Webster]
  • 4. To prove; to ratify; to confirm. [Obs.] --Shak. [1913 Webster]
  • 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. [1913 Webster]
  • 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. [Webster 1913 Suppl.]
  • The production of bail in court, who there justify themselves against the exception of the plaintiff. --Bouvier's Law Dict. [Webster 1913 Suppl.]
  • Syn: To defend; maintain; vindicate; excuse; exculpate; absolve; exonerate. [1913 Webster]

Synonyms of 'justify'

From: Moby Thesaurus

Words containing 'Justify'