Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English homepage

Date: 1300-1400
Language: French
Origin: justifier, from Late Latin justificare, from Latin justus; JUST2

justify

 verb
     
jus‧ti‧fy S2 W3 past tense and past participle justified, present participle justifying, third person singular justifies [transitive]
1 to give an acceptable explanation for something that other people think is unreasonable:
Ministers must appear before parliament and justify their actions.
justify doing something
How can we justify spending so much money on arms?
justify yourself (=prove that what you are doing is reasonable)
I don't have to justify myself to you or anyone else.
2 to be a good and acceptable reason for something:
Nothing justifies murdering another human being.
3TD technical to arrange lines of words on a page or computer screen so that they form a straight edge on both the right and left sides
Definition from the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
Advanced Learner's Dictionary.

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