justification

American  

[juhs-tuh-fi-key-shuhn] / ˌdʒʌs tə fɪˈkeɪ ʃən /

noun

1. a reason, fact, circumstance, or explanation that justifies or defends.

   His insulting you was ample justification for you to leave the party.

2. an act of justifying.

   The painter's justification of his failure to finish on time didn't impress me.

3. the state of being justified.

4. Also called justification by faith.  Theology. the act of God whereby humankind is made or accounted just, or free from guilt or penalty of sin.

5. Printing. the spacing of words and letters within a line of type so that all full lines in a column have even margins both on the left and on the right.

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justification British  

/ ˌdʒʌstɪfɪˈkeɪʃən /

noun

1. reasonable grounds for complaint, defence, etc

2. the act of justifying; proof, vindication, or exculpation

3. theol

   1. the act of justifying

   2. the process of being justified or the condition of having been justified

4. Also called: justification by faith.  Protestant theol the doctrine that God vindicates only those who repent and believe in Jesus

5. printing computing the process of adjusting interword spacing in text or data so that both right and left margins are straight

6. computing the process of moving data right or left so that the first or last character occurs in a predefined position

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Other Word Forms

• prejustification noun
• rejustification noun
• superjustification noun

Etymology

Origin of justification

First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English, from Late Latin jūstificātiōn-, stem of jūstificātiō, from jūstificāt(us) “justified” (past participle of jūstificāre; justify ) + -iō -ion ( def. )

Example Sentences

But Davie and the BBC can argue - with some justification - that the departure of Mills shows its new processes and practices are working well.

From BBC

Dorsey's justifications drew plenty of sceptics, who pointed out that he has presided over at least two rounds of mass job cuts in the last two years and never mentioned AI.

From BBC

The only justification, they calculated, would be an imminent threat, especially information that Iran was close to creating a nuclear weapon.

From BBC

It was dubbed, with much justification, the “Single Greatest Predictor of Future Stock Returns.”

From MarketWatch

Andain's housing association told us that a managing agent, appointed by a freeholder, sets the service charge and it had challenged increases and requested justifications.

From BBC

Related Words

• apology
• approval
• argument
• basis
• confirmation
• explanation
• pretext
• rationale
• rationalization
• vindication