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

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

"There is little doubt that, in any case, the justification of an imminent attack on the US does not hold water," he added.

From Barron's

For once there was a justification for Mr. Koolhaas’s sportive diagonals.

From The Wall Street Journal

The Syrian foreign ministry denounced the attack as "an outrageous assault on Syria's sovereignty and territorial integrity" and called Israel's justification "flimsy pretexts and fabricated excuses".

From BBC

Related Words

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