self-justification

American  

[self-juhs-tuh-fi-key-shuhn, self-] / ˈsɛlfˌdʒʌs tə fɪˈkeɪ ʃən, ˌsɛlf- /

noun

1. the act or fact of justifying oneself, especially of offering excessive reasons, explanations, excuses, etc., for an act, thought, or the like.

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self-justification British  

noun

1. the act or an instance of justifying or providing excuses for one's own behaviour, etc

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Etymology

Origin of self-justification

First recorded in 1765–75

Example Sentences

While Herschel isn’t really learning from each new mistake for much of the book, his interior searching gives Lipstein a chance to offer up thought-provoking commentary, even when it feels like self-justification.

From Los Angeles Times • Jul. 14, 2023

"He said to me he'd picked out more articles than just those two. If it had been about him it could have been lost as self-justification."

From BBC • Jul. 8, 2021

It does not, by sheer size, bluster toward self-justification.

From Seattle Times • Jun. 30, 2021

Like almost everything he would go on to write, it is a monologue of anxious self-justification in which the speaker keeps claiming she feels no need to justify herself.

From New York Times • Feb. 23, 2021

‘Elitist’ is an overused word, tinged with resentment, but in describing serialist self-justification of the twentieth century it is spot on.

From "The Story of Music" by Howard Goodall