justify

• POS: Verb (usu participle)
• HYPHEN: jus=ti=fy
• COUNT in NET: 8 in 8 verses (in OT : 3 in 3 verses) (in NT : 5 in 5 verses)

CIDE DICTIONARY

justify, v. t. [F. justifier, L. justificare; justus just + -ficare (in comp.) to make. See Just, a., and -fy.].

•  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."  [1913 Webster]

  "Unless the oppression is so extreme as to justify revolution, it would not justify the evil of breaking up a government."  [1913 Webster]
•  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."  [1913 Webster]
•  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."  [1913 Webster]
•  To prove; to ratify; to confirm.  Shak.  [1913 Webster]
•  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]
•  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.  [Webster 1913 Suppl.]

  "The production of bail in court, who there justify themselves against the exception of the plaintiff."  [Webster 1913 Suppl.]

Syn. -- To defend; maintain; vindicate; excuse; exculpate; absolve; exonerate.

justify, v. i. 

•  To form an even surface or true line with something else; to fit exactly.  [1913 Webster]
•  To take oath to the ownership of property sufficient to qualify one's self as bail or surety.  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

justify, v.tr. (-ies, -ied)
1 show the justice or rightness of (a person, act, etc.).
2 demonstrate the correctness of (an assertion etc.).
3 adduce adequate grounds for (conduct, a claim, etc.).
4 a (esp. in passive) (of circumstances) be such as to justify. b vindicate.
5 (as justified adj.) just, right (am justified in assuming).
6 Theol. declare (a person) righteous.
7 Printing adjust (a line of type) to fill a space evenly.

Derivative

justification n. justificatory adj. justifier n.

Etymology

ME f. F justifier f. LL justificare do justice to f. L justus JUST

THESAURUS

justify

absolve, account, account for, acquit, allow, amnesty, approve, argue, assert, authenticate, authorize, back, bear out, claim, clear, compose, confirm, contend, corroborate, cry sour grapes, decontaminate, defend, demonstrate, destigmatize, discharge, dismiss, dispense from, do justice to, exculpate, excuse, exempt, exempt from, exonerate, explain, explain away, extenuate, forgive, free, give absolution, gloss, grant amnesty to, grant immunity, grant remission, impose, legalize, legitimate, legitimatize, legitimize, let go, let off, make up, nonpros, overrun, palliate, pardon, permit, pi, pi a form, prove, purge, quash the charge, rationalize, rehabilitate, reinstate, release, remit, restore, sanction, set, set free, set in print, shrive, substantiate, support, sustain, uphold, validate, verify, vindicate, warrant, whitewash, withdraw the charge

ROGET THESAURUS

justify

Deity

VB create, move, uphold, preserve, govern, atone, redeem, save, propitiate, mediate, predestinate, elect, call, ordain, bless, justify, sanctify, glorify Adj, almighty, holy, hallowed, sacred, divine, heavenly, celestial, sacrosanct, all-knowing, all-seeing, all-wise, omniscient, superhuman, supernatural, ghostly, spiritual, hyperphysical, unearthly, theistic, theocratic, anointed, soterial.

Vindication

N vindication, justification, warrant, exoneration, exculpation, acquittal, whitewashing, extenuation, palliation, palliative, softening, mitigation, reply, defense, recrimination, apology, gloss, varnish, plea, salvo, excuse, extenuating circumstances, allowance, allowance to be made, locus paenitentiae, apologist, vindicator, justifier, defendant, justifiable charge, true bill, v, justify, warrant, be an excuse for, lend a color, furnish a handle, vindicate, exculpate, disculpate, acquit, clear, set right, exonerate, whitewash, clear the skirts of, extenuate, palliate, excuse, soften, apologize, varnish, slur, gloze, put a gloss, put a good face upon, mince, gloss over, bolster up, help a lame dog over a stile, advocate, defend, plead one's cause, stand up for, stick up for, speak up for, contend for, speak for, bear out, keep in countenance, support, plead, say in defense, plead ignorance, confess and avoid, propugn, put in a good word for, take the will for the deed, make allowance for, give credit for, do justice to, give one his due, give the Devil his due, make good, prove the truth of, prove one's case, be justified by the event, vindicated, vindicating, exculpatory, apologetic, excusable, defensible, pardonable, venial, veniable, specious, plausible, justifiable, honi sot qui mal y pense, good wine needs no bush.