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:
I’m going to respond the same way to harassment and perceived injustice as I would any other space.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 15, 2026
Sentenced to 10 years, he bore the injustice nobly.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 9, 2026
"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
But that sense of injustice is still there for other Premier League clubs.
From BBC ● Sep. 10, 2026
In 1985, an organization for victims of Nazi injustice invited Rudi Wobbe and Karl Schnibbe to Hamburg, Germany, to attend a memorial service in honor of Helmuth Hübener.
From "Hitler Youth: Growing Up in Hitler's Shadow" by Susan Campbell Bartoletti
I’m not saying this is one of the great injustices in baseball history.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 4, 2026
In December 2025, a Finnish a truth and reconciliation commission called on Finland to rectify injustices committed against the indigenous Sami people.
From Barron's ● Sep. 30, 2026
Climate change is "not the origin of these injustices, but a threat multiplier", he added.
From BBC ● Aug. 24, 2026
Many of his lyrics lament the conditions of the downtrodden and underprivileged, pointing out the injustices in the way man treats his fellow man.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 10, 2026
For Christmas, Mrs. Levy always compiled not a gift list but rather a list of the injustices and brutalities she had suffered since August.
From "A Confederacy of Dunces" by John Kennedy Toole
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
