justifyjus‧ti‧fy /ˈdʒʌstɪfaɪ/ ●●○ S3 W3 AWL verb (past tense and past participle justified, present participle justifying, third person singular justifies) [transitive] 
Word Origin Examples
Ministers must appear before Parliament and justify their actions.justify doing something How can we justify spending so much money on arms?justify yourself (=prove that what you are doing is reasonable) I don’t have to justify myself to you or anyone else.2to be a good and acceptable reason for something: Nothing justifies murdering another human being.3technical to arrange lines of words on a page or computer screen so that they form a straight edge on both the right and left sides
Word OriginWORD ORIGINjustify
Verb TableOrigin:
1300-1400 French justifier, from Late Latin justificare, from Latin justus; ➔ JUST2VERB TABLE
justify
| Simple Form | ||
| Present | I, you, we, they | justify |
| he, she, it | justifies | |
| Past | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | justified |
| Present perfect | I, you, we, they | have justified |
| he, she, it | has justified | |
| Past perfect | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | had justified |
| Future | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | will justify |
| Future perfect | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | will have justified |
| Continuous Form | ||
| Present | I | am justifying |
| he, she, it | is justifying | |
| you, we, they | are justifying | |
| Past | I, he, she, it | was justifying |
| you, we, they | were justifying | |
| Present perfect | I, you, we, they | have been justifying |
| he, she, it | has been justifying | |
| Past perfect | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | had been justifying |
| Future | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | will be justifying |
| Future perfect | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | will have been justifying |
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER DICTIONARIES
Thesaurus- How can you justify a 200% pay rise!
- How can you justify the expense?
- How can you possibly justify charging four pounds for a glass of beer.
- I don't think anyone can justify spending so much money on weapons.
- No matter what the circumstances, street violence cannot be justified.
- People try to justify the breakdown of their marriage by blaming their spouse.
- The issue is whether the benefits justify the costs.
- There is not enough evidence to justify such accusations.
- Torcuato is a murderer, but his crime can be justified.
Longman Language Activatorto show that something is right to do► justify
Collocations to explain or show that there are good reasons for doing something that seems wrong to most people: · How can you justify a 200% pay rise!· People try to justify the breakdown of their marriage by blaming their spouse.justify doing something: · I don't think anyone can justify spending so much money on weapons.
to tell someone the reason for something► say why/tell somebody why to tell someone why something happened: · I knew she was annoyed, but she wouldn't say why.· Can anyone tell us why there are no buses today?
► explain to tell someone the reason for something, so that they understand the situation better: · She just doesn't like me. How else can you explain her behaviour?· I don't have time to explain now - just come with me quickly!explain why/how/what etc: · Doctors are unable to explain why the disease spread so quickly.explain that: · Sarah explained that she hadn't been feeling well recently.explain to: · It was difficult explaining to the children why their father was leaving home.
► give a reason to tell someone why you are doing something, especially something surprising: · "He says he's not coming." "Oh, did he give a reason?"give somebody a reason: · The landlord told us we had to go, but we were never given any reason.
► account for to tell someone the reason for something that has happened, especially when people are looking for a reason to explain it: · If you walked home, how do you account for the fact that a witness said he saw you driving your van?· It is difficult to account for the big differences in their scores.
► provide an explanation/come up with an explanation to tell someone the reason why something happened when they have asked you to explain. Provide an explanation is more formal than come up with an explanation: · In an attempt to provide an explanation she said she thought I had given her permission to be absent.· After failing to come up with an adequate explanation, Jones was arrested for robbery.
► justify to tell someone why something that seems wrong is in fact right: · How can you justify the expense?justify doing something: · How can you possibly justify charging four pounds for a glass of beer?
► explain away to tell someone the reason why you did something or why something happened, with the intention of making them think you have not done anything wrong or bad: explain away something: · George was trying to explain away his outburst, saying that he'd been under a lot of pressure.· The government tried to explain away the police's unexpected brutality, but this only led to rioting.explain something away: · But there's broken glass all over the floor - how are we going to explain that away?
to be a good reason why something should be done► justify to be the fact or situation that makes it seem right or suitable to do something that would usually be wrong or unfair: · There is not enough evidence to justify such accusations.· No matter what the circumstances, street violence cannot be justified.
► make it right if you say that something that is wrong or bad makes it right for you to do something wrong or bad, you mean that it makes your action acceptable: · It's wrong to steal and nothing you can say will make it right.make it right (for somebody) to do something: · Just because you know she cheats, that doesn't make it right for you to do the same.
► call for if a situation calls for a particular behaviour or action, it is a good reason to behave or act in that way: · I hear that you two are getting married. This calls for a celebration.· It was a tricky situation that called for a lot of diplomacy.
► warrant formal if a situation warrants a particular behaviour or action, the situation is so bad that there is a good reason to behave or act in that way: · Patients will only be given morphine if their medical condition warrants it.· The offences he has committed are not serious enough to warrant a full investigation.
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES► the end justifies the means
Word family (=used to say that something bad is acceptable, if it achieves a good result)· Their defence, that the end justifies the means, is not acceptable.
► the end justifies the means (=the result you achieve is more important than the way you do it)· It’s too bad if people get hurt - the end justifies the means.
COLLOCATIONS FROM THE CORPUSADVERB► fully· I think the number of cyclists in this area of the city fully justifies the implementation of these additional measures.· Until evidence of such ore bodies can be produced, skepticism regarding their existence is fully justified.· Berger's irrationalist pessimism about the fate of ideas in history is neither fully justified by history nor required by logic.· The long-term repercussions fully justify the significance attached to Emancipation.· An employment tribunal has ruled that food retailers are fully justified in refusing to employ men who wear them.· We not merely retained it but expanded it, and it has fully justified our confidence.
NOUN► action· How could she when she knew she would use the same words to justify her actions?· The issues to be decided are contemporary as are the actors with motives or ideas to guide or justify action.· One need not invoke the authority of the law over the defamer to justify such action.· Baer promptly did so, hiding behind a cloud of legalese to justify his action.· She didn't know how to answer him - how to justify actions that were unjustifiable.· Should any relative complain, the doctor may rely upon the directive as justifying his actions.· Beyond Mr Mandelson's attempts to justify his actions, there is a final factor that guarantees his exile.· Highways chiefs say there is no evidence to justify action being taken in Lily Road, Litherland.
► argument· There is an obvious weakness in this attempt to use an argument from experience to justify all arguments from experience.· But this at once raises the question which Kant posed to himself; can, then, any metaphysical argument be justified?· And that argument must be justified by appeal to our standards as well as his.· The efficiency arguments used to justify government intervention in sports markets are applicable to participation, not to spectating.· Lenin used a number of different arguments to justify recognizing the right to secede, and it is worth summarizing them.· Philosophical and aesthetic arguments justifying non-figurative art left Minton unconvinced.· Even if there were some truth in such an argument it hardly justifies such an unacceptable form of activity.· Theological arguments can justify and indeed increasingly require the ordination of women to the priesthood.
► attempt· There was a half-hearted and unconvincing attempt to justify fins.· Spenser's depictions in Book V are more than just an attempt to justify Grey.· Beyond Mr Mandelson's attempts to justify his actions, there is a final factor that guarantees his exile.
► belief· This is justified by his belief that abstractionism does more than obscure the truth of immaterialism.· But what of the actual evidence to justify this belief?· The major institutions of society are justified by the belief that they are meeting the functional prerequisites of the social system.· When we justify belief A by appeal to beliefs B and C, we have not yet shown A to be justified.
► claim· The second chapter of Politics among Nations is devoted to explaining and justifying this claim.· Is there not some obligation on the part of the pursuer to justify his claim?· Within the period of the notice the cautioner must withdraw or justify the claim.· Combined with its up to the minute styling, these justify our claim that the Leisure 200-S offers modern looks to match its modern features.· He says we feel the numbers justify the claim that prison is being used in a strategic way against asylum seekers.· Before justifying our claim, however, we wish to say something about the main criticisms levelled at Realism.· The Department of Health said its guidelines did not justify the claim.· One concerns the type of argument required to justify a claim that a certain authority is legitimate.
► cost· It is doubtful whether the claimed benefits justify the substantial costs.· But many specialists are unconvinced the device will save enough lives to justify the cost.· The rubbish companies run into other problems as they try to push through the higher charges justified by their rising costs.· Companies justify the cost in employee time in terms of improved public relations and eventually recruiting a better trained work force.· Perhaps Lucker has not made himself visible enough to justify the cost.· The Public Transport Unit has no evidence of demand to justify the likely cost of the service.
► decision· That evidence was, primafacie, of itself sufficient to justify the decision of the magistrate that the applicant should be committed.· If the plaintiff gets a large award, how will they justify their decision when the other claimsmen have settled out?· How does Ormrod J. justify his decision?· Although the uniVersity justified its decision by stating that rePlacement Professors had been found, this was actually not the case.· It justifies the decision to go to the park as a means to see the gibbons.· Shelton said that he told Rumsfeld there was not enough information to justify some of the decisions being contemplated.· The prime minister can not hide behind pressure from his coalition partners to justify such a wrongheaded decision as Har Homa.
► effort· Step 5 Determine the extent of this behaviour; does its frequency or seriousness justify your efforts to try and alter it?· In turn the profession would articulate philosophy and justify efforts and achievements with confidence to the wider community.· The results justified all the effort, however.· Take one dose of Kali phos. 12x every 15 minutes until the results justify the effort being made.· It justified this effort by the limited number of such compounds available, and the lack of interest by industry.
► end· The end does not justify the means, no matter what the cause.· These alliances and subterfuges were spawned by an end justifies the means rationale.· In this as in other areas the ends can never justify the means.· But once again, the end does not justify the means.· In short, do ends justify means or are the means themselves of intrinsic significance to the final outcome?· Acceptance of this position involves rejection of the view that the end justifies the means.· Can the end really justify these means?· In those circumstances any end justifies the means.
► evidence· No evidence emerged to justify the apprehension of the authorities, but this did not trouble the court.· Ossig concedes that a formal investigation was not done, saying there was not enough evidence to justify it.· Few in the scientific community would argue that the scientific evidence justifies immediate extremely drastic action.· But a department official said investigators have not found enough evidence to justify a full-fledged investigation.· But what of the actual evidence to justify this belief?· Grand juries only determine whether sufficient evidence exists to justify an indictment.· A preferable interpretation is: a search for evidence justifying a choice between qualitatively distinct alternatives.· In both instances the general test should be whether there was some reasonable or sufficient evidence to justify the action.
► existence· Tory Trotskyism wants to create the revolutionary conditions that will justify its existence.· Pastor Braun was periodically called to Berlin to justify the continued existence of the Institution and its inmates.· Since the cold war ended, many state intelligence agencies have struggled to justify their existence.· Pressing public necessity may sometimes justify the existence of such restrictions; racial antagonism never can....· Is necessity the test that critics must meet to justify their existence?· In ideas, our movement has been very productive, more than justifying its existence by this alone.· We had to work hard to justify our existence.· If its artists were consistently fresh and challenging, it would justify its existence easily.
► intervention· The efficiency arguments used to justify government intervention in sports markets are applicable to participation, not to spectating.· If satisfied they indicate that an appropriate level of concern exists to justify legal intervention but an order will not automatically follow.· Owen waited for the words which would justify his own intervention.· This is the manner in which he justifies legal intervention.· He made immediate inquiries by telephone, but felt that there was insufficient evidence to justify his intervention.· Central government also justifies its interventions in local government in terms of its concern with national economic management.· What are the market failures that might justify government intervention through industrial policy?
► means· The end does not justify the means, no matter what the cause.· Muhammad annexed the old institution, justifying it aposteriori by means of a cultural legend.· In this as in other areas the ends can never justify the means.· These alliances and subterfuges were spawned by an end justifies the means rationale.· This might be justified as a means of signalling the connection between drunken driving and fatal accidents.· But once again, the end does not justify the means.· In short, do ends justify means or are the means themselves of intrinsic significance to the final outcome?· Acceptance of this position involves rejection of the view that the end justifies the means.
► need· Yet even when they are, we feel the need to justify them; which is where Rollin resorts to moral theory.· As a result, the organization has little subsequent need to justify or cover up the consequences of its actions.· The truth is, I have no need to justify myself to you.· With this approach there is a need to justify all expenditure and not just that expenditure at the margin or additional expenditure.· Each patient area manager is asked to make an assessment of manpower needs and required to justify this assessment to other nurses.
► policy· The law is far too complex to justify a policy of allowing only advice and assistance.· Under World Trade Organization rules, countries must now justify their trade policies on hard science.· They were suigeneris, and were to be justified by considerations of policy.· It provides the stock of examples and analogies which politicians can plunder to justify policies for a novel and complex situation.· Executive officials can be hauled before Congressional committees and asked to justify their conduct of policy.· There were, in addition, further arguments put forward to support and justify the policy of nationalisation and public ownership.
► position· The stories told by respondents are used to justify a particular position, as well as to criticize the characters in the stories.· Two principal heads of potential liability are cited to justify this position and call for consideration.· Either way, the prejudiced persons are attempting to justify their position by adopting either a theoretical or empirical perspective.· In this sense ideology is a viewpoint which distorts reality and justifies and legitimates the position of a social group.· Managers and professionals justify or legitimate their position in terms of their technical expertise, objectivity, and rationality.· The Commission could find no compelling reason of public interest which could justify the position of the United Kingdom's government.· The words of the Green party are not usually cited by Conservative Members to justify their own position.
► price· Great presentation lifts it slightly, but not enough to justify the high price.· Besides a brilliant malbec and cabernet sauvignon, it is also producing one of the few merlots that justifies its price tag.· Right: The Eradicator gets no prizes for good looks, but it's what goes on inside that justifies the price.· But its effect on spot oil prices - which skyrocketed - was used by the producers to justify a general price rise.· But it can't justify the price of admission.
► reason· But, in any event, there is no compelling reason to justify section 9.· One of the reasons I could justify putting them in there was the D block where I could give them extra help.· Reasons which authoritative directives should, but fail to, reflect are none the less among the reasons which justify holding the directives binding.· Are they learning there are some reasons to justify it?· It took away one of the reasons he used to justify trying to suppress his homosexuality, you see.· Are there non-parasitic reasons that justify acknowledging the validity of consent in certain classes of cases?· These reasons do not justify the righteous role which they assign to the avenging vigilante.
► use· The arguments that are now available to justify the use of particular methods are much more convincing than they used to be.· Police arrested Hale, because they believed the altercation with Tavai had not justified the use of deadly force.· You are now entitled to call yourself a specialist as long as you can justify the use of that term.· However, a contextually prominent action can not justify the use of a surface anaphor, such as I did, yesterday.· Yet I would venture that the landscape of our country alone would justify the use of this lofty adjective.· In view of this influence on patient management, a positive diagnosis of 30.6% in patients with non-cardiac chest pain justifies its use.
VERB► explain· The hidden agenda helps to explain although not to justify it.· In such a small country as the United Kingdom, there are striking variations, impossible to explain or justify in terms of need.
► feel· Yet even when they are, we feel the need to justify them; which is where Rollin resorts to moral theory.· Seeing events from this perspective, I felt and still feel justified in defending Jack.· Ken later felt the necessity to justify his joy in Orton's adventures, which he claimed met his disapproval.· He says we feel the numbers justify the claim that prison is being used in a strategic way against asylum seekers.· I think he felt he did not justify the deal.· He felt like justifying himself, at least to James.· Some feel justified in doing so.
► require· The schedules require social workers to justify decisions not to act.· Zero-based budgets require agencies to justify every element of their budget every year.
► seek· Bradley and colleagues are well aware of these problems as they seek to justify newborn screening for this untreatable genetic disorder.
► seem· But we're still making much heavier going of getting to grips with these and many other environmental issues than seems justified.· Nevertheless, a proximal hepaticojejunostomy in a young patient seems unattractive and justifies exploration of other, less invasive, alternatives.· The main conflict is between what seem justified interests to the child and what he knows his parent wants him to do.· But he has seemed primarily determined to justify his moves.
► try· Many people try to justify stealing like that.· In it she tries to justify the vindictiveness with which she treated the young girl.· Jeanson received an 18-month suspended sentence for trying to justify murder.· Why should we try to justify ourselves according to the breeder standards?· But I will not humiliate myself by trying to justify what I do.· What was he trying to justify?· It is like Brutus is trying to justify Caesar's death like a mathematic problem!· These people see the truth in terms of Western ideas and try to justify religion on the basis of Western ideas.
WORD FAMILYadjectivejustifiable ≠ unjustifiablejustified ≠ unjustifiednounjustificationverbjustifyadverbjustifiably ≠ unjustifiably
1to give an acceptable explanation for something that other people think is unreasonable: Ministers must appear before Parliament and justify their actions.justify doing something How can we justify spending so much money on arms?justify yourself (=prove that what you are doing is reasonable) I don’t have to justify myself to you or anyone else.2to be a good and acceptable reason for something: Nothing justifies murdering another human being.3technical to arrange lines of words on a page or computer screen so that they form a straight edge on both the right and left sides