unjustified
Britishadjective
Explanation
Whether it’s unjustified violence, an unjustified complaint, or an unjustified belief, you can use the word unjustified when something just isn’t right or seems to have no reason behind it. When you break apart the word unjustified, it’s easy to see what it means. You’re probably familiar with the prefix un-, which here means “not.” And justified contains just, meaning “fair.” So something that's unjustified is not fair or not right, such as an unjustified action like damaging someone's property or the unjustified praise for someone who has taken credit for another person's efforts.
Vocabulary lists containing unjustified
John F. Kennedy's Address to the American People on the Cuban Missile Crisis (1962)
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100 SAT Words Beginning with "U"
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Korematsu v. United States (1944)
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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.
A year ago, Mai launched a Facebook initiative called Stop Medically Unjustified Caesarean Section, which is followed by more than 12,000 people around the Arab world.
From BBC • Dec. 1, 2022
Unjustified and retaliatory was the assessment of the government watchdog.
From Washington Post • Jul. 13, 2021
"Unjustified arrests, unexplained delays, police cordons, masks and truncheons," nationalist lawmaker and former soccer executive Igor Lebedev commented on Twitter, describing last month's Russian Cup final in Samara.
From Fox News • Jun. 14, 2019
Unjustified as it may be, that tern still remains a turnoff for many Americans.
From New York Times • Jan. 27, 2018
The appearance is against me; and I go, Unjustified, for ever from your sight.
From The works of John Dryden, now first collected in eighteen volumes. Volume 05 by Scott, Walter, Sir
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.
