Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun The act of justifying.
  • noun The condition or fact of being justified.
  • noun Something, such as a fact or circumstance, that justifies: synonym: apology.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun The act of justifying, or of showing something to be just or right; proof of fairness, propriety, or right intention; vindication; exculpation; upholding.
  • noun Specifically In law: The showing of a sufficient reason in court why a defendant did what he is called to answer: as, a plea in justification.
  • noun Proof by a surety offered for a party of whom security is required in legal proceedings that he is of adequate pecuniary ability.
  • noun In theology, the act by which the soul is reconciled to God.
  • noun The act of adjusting or making exact; the act of fitting together, as the parts of anything: as, the justification of lines or types, in printing.
  • noun Synonyms and Exculpation, exoneration.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun The act of justifying or the state of being justified; a showing or proving to be just or conformable to law, justice, right, or duty; defense; vindication; support
  • noun (Law) The showing in court of a sufficient lawful reason why a party charged or accused did that for which he is called to answer.
  • noun (Theol.) The act of justifying, or the state of being justified, in respect to God's requirements.
  • noun (Print.) Adjustment of type (in printing), or of the final spacing of printed text, by spacing it so as to make it exactly fill a line, or line up at one edge of the allotted portion of the printed page; adjustment of a cut so as to hold it in the right place; also, the leads, quads, etc., used for making such adjustment.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A reason, explanation, or excuse which provides convincing, morally acceptable support for behavior or for a belief or occurrence.
  • noun typography The alignment of text to the left margin (left justification), the right margin (right justification), or both margins (full justification).

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun the act of defending or explaining or making excuses for by reasoning
  • noun something (such as a fact or circumstance) that shows an action to be reasonable or necessary
  • noun a statement in explanation of some action or belief

Etymologies

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Examples

  • When we discuss the nature of justification, we must distinguish between two different issues: First, what do we mean when we use the word ˜justification™?

    Epistemology Steup, Matthias 2005

  • That the writings of Mr. Boole and myself "go to the full justification of" this "principle," is only true in the sense in which the Scotch use, or did use, the word _justification_.

    A Budget of Paradoxes, Volume II (of II) Augustus De Morgan 1838

  • If the sincere reception of the sacraments actually secures pardon or justification _per se, immediately_, without the intervening instrumentality of a living faith, then faith is not the only condition of justification as the scriptures teach, but we are justified either by faith, or by the sacraments, and then there will be _three conditions of justification_, faith, baptism, and the Lord's Supper!

    American Lutheranism Vindicated; or, Examination of the Lutheran Symbols, on Certain Disputed Topics Including a Reply to the Plea of Rev. W. J. Mann 1836

  • The latter discards the deontology of the former, but takes the term justification 'to denote the condition which, according to the former, is sufficient for satisfying the duty that, according to the former but not the latter, is in fact laid on us human beings.

    Warranted Christian Belief 1932- 2000

  • We saw also that there are analogically extended senses of the term justification '; but none of them is such that it is clear that a Christian believer can't be justified, in that sense, in holding Christian belief.

    Warranted Christian Belief 1932- 2000

  • III de fide justif., sec. xi: "The term justification in this instance means the declaring just, the freeing from sin and the eternal punishment of sin in consideration of the justice of Christ imputed to faith by God."

    The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume 8: Infamy-Lapparent 1840-1916 1913

  • The term justification is used both in the Old Testament and the New.

    The Gospel Day Or, the Light of Christianity Charles Ebert Orr 1897

  • We do not feel that the justification is there to do what we did.

    Think Progress » Right Wing Swiftboating Retired Generals: ‘Dangerous,’ ‘Encouraging the Enemy to Fight On’ 2006

  • I think what we've got now is what I call justification fatigue.

    CNN Transcript Feb 28, 2003 2003

  • We also have a statement from the JUI, one of the hardline Islamic parties here, whose leader today was put under house arrest saying this attack by United States is what they call justification for a jihad, a holy war, as they have been saying for the last four weeks and they are also calling for mass demonstrations tomorrow.

    CNN Transcript Oct 7, 2001 2001

Comments

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  • JM wonders what happens when typists lose their justification.

    June 27, 2011