Showing results for "justified"

• past tense form of justify.
• past participle of justify.

justified

American  

[juhs-tuh-fahyd] / ˈdʒʌs təˌfaɪd /

adjective

1. having been shown to be just or right.

   If a parent sides with one child over another, one will feel righteous and justified, and the other will feel misunderstood and resentful.

2. warranted or well-grounded.

   The commission’s stance is that bans on GMO crops must be scientifically justified and crop-specific.

   I accept that there may be a penalty for justified civil disobedience, but I must weigh that penalty against the good that can be accomplished.

3. Printing. aligned with one or, especially, both margins.

   Justified text looks a little neater, but there's nothing particularly wrong with having a ragged right edge.

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noun

1. Theology. Usually the justified a person or persons believed to be worthy, redeemed, or absolved.

   Good works are logically and morally necessary, for they are nothing more or less than the evidence that one is indeed among the justified.

verb

1. the simple past tense and past participle of justify.

Other Word Forms

• half-justified
  adjective
• unjustified
  adjective
• well-justified
  adjective

Etymology

Origin of justified

justify ( def. ) + -ed ² ( def. )

Explanation

In typesetting, the term justified refers to how words line up with the margins of a page or column. Whether you choose to make the text left, right, or fully justified depends on the purpose of the text. If you're typing a letter, you may want the date and your address to be right justified. The last character on each line would touch the right margin. The salutation (the part that says, "Dear Sir or Madam") would be left justified, with the D touching the left margin. The body of the letter could be left justified, with the right margin uneven, or fully justified, with both the right and left aligned.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

justified

His previous spells at Sheffield United and Bournemouth also justified his addition as someone whose stock had continued to rise despite being involved in relegations.

From BBC ● Sep. 28, 2026

This thought process is somewhat justified, he said, because elevated gas prices can translate to higher inflation overall.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 25, 2026

There were some suggestions ringside that the stoppage came early, with Benn still moving and trying to evade shots, but the referee was justified in preventing further punishment.

From BBC ● Sep. 13, 2026

A move justified on those grounds invites the obvious follow-up: how much higher?

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 11, 2026

So, in the spring of 1679, Halley set out to see if the incredible claims for accuracy that Hevelius, now aged 68, was making could be justified.

From "The Scientists" by John Gribbin

Related Words

• constitutional
• contractual
• fair
• juridical
• lawful
• legitimate
• proper
• statutory
• valid