self-justifying

[self-juhs-tuh-fahy-ing, self-]

adjective

1. offering excuses for oneself, especially in excess of normal demands.

2. automatically adjusting printed or typed lines to fill a given space, especially to conform to a rigid margin.

self-justifying

adjective

1. offering excuses for one's behaviour, often when they are not called for

Word History and Origins

Origin of self-justifying¹

First recorded in 1730–40

Example Sentences

“I am a loyal person,” Harris writes, which is not only self-justifying but has the slightly off-putting whiff of someone declaring, by golly, I’m just too honest.

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Alongside the total failure and self-justifying mythology of the centrist ruling parties, there’s another failure that might almost be worse: the near-total defeat, disempowerment and internal disorder of the left.

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I won’t go into the parallel political crises in France and Germany in detail here, except to say that the circumstances are different in each case but the overall pattern is about the same — and that alongside the total failure and self-justifying mythology of the centrist ruling parties, there’s another failure whose long-term consequences may almost be worse.

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The licenses to kill were self-justifying.

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But the light that she turns on Pinochet and his money-grubbing, self-justifying descendants is not merely investigative in nature.

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