Justify Meaning
/ˈd͡ʒʌstɪfaɪ/Definition, CEFR level B2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
verbTo provide an acceptable explanation for.
verbTo be a good reason behind a normally-unacceptable action; to warrant.
Sentence Examples
Can you justify the use of violence?
How can you justify your rude behavior?
How can they justify paying such huge salaries?
CEFR Practice Quiz
How can you ____ spending so much money on unnecessary items?
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
It is difficult to ____ the high cost of the project when there are so many other urgent needs tonight.
Word Origin & History
From Middle English justifien, from Old French justifier, from Late Latin justificare (“make just”), from Latin justus, iustus (“just”) + ficare (“make”), from facere, equivalent to just + -ify.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"What in me is dark
Illumine, what is low raise and support;
That to the highth of this great Argument
I may assert th’ Eternal Providence,
And justifie the wayes of God to men."
— 1667, John Milton, “Book I”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC:
"Like all public expenditure, Access for All has to compete with other deserving demands. For example, how can you justify spending a couple of million pounds installing lifts at a station such as Achnasheen, which has 2,420 annual users, when that sum would buy a life-saving machine for a hospital? How do you decide on a minimum number of annual station users to justify that expenditure?"
— 2023 August 23, Anthony Lambert, “Expanding the family and disabled markets”, in RAIL, number 990, page 53:
"Unless the oppression is so extreme as to justify revolution, it would not justify the evil of breaking up a government, under an abstract constitutional right to do so."
— 1861, Edward Everett, The Great Issues Now Before the Country, An oration delivered at the New York Academy of Music, July 4, 1861, New York: James G. Gregory, page 8:
"Preservation of two railway routes between Belfast and Derry could no longer be justified and one of them must go."
— 1956 May, “Transport in Ulster”, in Railway Magazine, page 280:
"I cannot justify whom the law condemns."
— 1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Second Part of Henry the Sixt, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies. […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene iii]:
Explore More B2 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
How can you ____ spending so much money on unnecessary items?
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
It is difficult to ____ the high cost of the project when there are so many other urgent needs tonight.