noun
-
the condition or practice of being unjust or unfair
-
an unjust act
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of injustice
First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English, from Middle French, from Latin injūstitia; equivalent to in- 3 + justice
Compare meaning
How does injustice compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:
Explanation
Life isn’t fair, and that quality is exactly what defines injustice: something unfair that happens, often in violation of a basic human right. In the early 19th century in the United States, women could not legally vote, but they fought back against this injustice and eventually won voting rights. The word comes from a Latin phrase that literally means “not right,” and injustice is the opposite of justice, which is a fair and righteous act. Injustice can be general or specific, like the injustice suffered by poor people everywhere, or an individual act of injustice committed by some unkind person.
Vocabulary lists containing injustice
Figurative Language in King's "I Have a Dream" Speech (1963)
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"The Civil Rights Movement"
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Brown Girl Dreaming
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
"To make a decision about what the sentence means, based on something that's so arbitrary and out of people's control, feels like a major injustice."
From BBC ● Sep. 22, 2026
Gibney is renowned for taking on big money, corruption and anything else that reeks of injustice.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 11, 2026
"But I have never seen anything like what is happening now. In my opinion, it is extreme injustice."
From BBC ● Aug. 3, 2026
The cases are a textbook attempt at jackpot injustice.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 28, 2026
They are merely honest and call a thing by its name; for there is a very great deal of fraud, injustice, and baseness in the army.
From "All Quiet on the Western Front: A Novel" by Erich Maria Remarque
I’m not saying this is one of the great injustices in baseball history.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 4, 2026
A Swedish truth commission on Wednesday urged the state to apologise for injustices committed against its indigenous Sami people, including assimilation programmes, and provide compensation and redress.
From Barron's ● Sep. 30, 2026
Dickens’s stories of suffering children and stark injustices still awaken almost primal feelings of horror and heartbreak.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 28, 2026
Climate change is "not the origin of these injustices, but a threat multiplier", he added.
From BBC ● Aug. 24, 2026
Examples of these fatal injustices were seemingly endless.
From "1919 The Year That Changed America" by Martin W. Sandler
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
