do justice to
Idioms-
Treat fairly or adequately, with full appreciation, as in That review doesn't do the play justice . This expression was first recorded in John Dryden's preface to Troilus and Cressida (1679): “I cannot leave this subject before I do justice to that Divine Poet.”
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do oneself justice . Execute in accordance with one's abilities, as in She finally got a position in which she could do herself justice . [Second half of 1800s]
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.
"Club legend doesn't even begin to do justice to the extraordinary contribution that Jamie has had at Saracens," McCall said.
From BBC • Jan. 21, 2026
“Yes, they’re condensed, because some of them were very long, 20, 30 minutes. But I wanted to do justice to what those fights were, historically.”
From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 10, 2025
In any event, it is impossible to do justice to the collection, which ranges over millennia, primarily from 3000 B.C. to A.D.
From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 5, 2025
“Carl and I spent many wonderful years together. Words can’t do justice to the love we shared for over 60 years. Thank you for your prayers and sympathy,” Parton wrote.
From Salon • Mar. 4, 2025
And so, Gordon, the intern, settled on negligent homicide, the toughest misdemeanor penalty, arguing that the two charges for reckless behavior are not “harsh enough to do justice to the outcome of the accident.”
From "A Deadly Wandering: A Mystery, a Landmark Investigation, and the Astonishing Science of Attention in the Digital Age" by Matt Richtel
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.
