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.
Yet despite the strong ratings of these audition programmes, some critics question if teenagers and young hopefuls can do justice to a genre that is so emotionally weighty.
From BBC
"Club legend doesn't even begin to do justice to the extraordinary contribution that Jamie has had at Saracens," McCall said.
From BBC
It’s not easy to do justice to such complex roles in quick succession.
From Los Angeles Times
Because of the grisly and highly publicized nature of Selena’s death, Quintanilla felt that the film needed to be made sooner than later, in order to do justice to his daughter’s legacy, said “Selena” director Gregory Nava in a 2025 interview with De Los.
From Los Angeles Times
“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
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.
