noun
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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:
"Having this conviction quashed is not simply about correcting the record, it's about finally having validation that this is an injustice that never should have happened," the 45-year-old said.
From BBC ● Oct. 7, 2026
Questioned by Jesse Nicholls, representing the bereaved family, Dr Latham said Uddin "felt a sense of injustice" about being branded a terrorist.
From BBC ● Oct. 5, 2026
Conflict has dogged him his entire life, and injustice is what he’s come to expect.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 2, 2026
The case is too opaque for a full-throated campaign about outright injustice.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 25, 2026
“Babas right. And Malala's case got a lot of international attention, but sadly, poor girls suffer from injustice everywhere in the world. Including in America.”
From "Amina's Song" by Hena Khan
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
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
Lake, who has campaigned for his constituent for the past two years, said the case was one of the clearest injustices he had come across in his nine years as an MP.
From BBC ● Jul. 5, 2026
Examples of these fatal injustices were seemingly endless.
From "1919 The Year That Changed America" by Martin W. Sandler
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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.
