justification

English

Etymology

From Middle English justificacioun, justification, from Middle French justification, from Late Latin iustificationem, justificationem < iustificatio, from iustifico, from Latin iustus.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, General American, Canada) IPA^(key): /ˌd͡ʒʌstɪfɪˈkeɪʃən/

  • Audio (Berkshire, Southern England):

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  • Audio (Texas):

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  • Audio (Canada):

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• (General Australian) IPA^(key): /ˌd͡ʒɐstɪfɪˈkæɪʃən/
• (New Zealand) IPA^(key): /ˌd͡ʒɐstəfəˈkæɪʃən/
• Rhymes: -eɪʃən

Noun

justification (countable and uncountable, plural justifications)

1. (countable) A reason, explanation, or excuse which someone believes provides convincing, morally acceptable support for behavior or for a belief or occurrence.
   • 2012 April 19, Josh Halliday, “Free speech haven or lawless cesspool – can the internet be civilised?”, in The Guardian‎^[1], archived from the original on 8 May 2025:

     The growing use of social media to spread anger and dissent in the Arab world has been hailed by western governments as one of the chief justifications for a completely unfettered internet. The US is reportedly funding the secret rollout of technology in Iran in an effort to undermine internet censors in the country.

2. (Christianity, uncountable) The forgiveness of sin.
   • 1999, Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification, (Please provide the book title or journal name):

     […] to articulate a common understanding of our justification by God’s grace through faith in Christ.

3. (typography, uncountable) The alignment of text to the left margin (left justification), the right margin (right justification), or both margins (full justification).

Antonyms

• condemnation
• conviction

Derived terms

• justificational
• justificationism
• justificationist
• overjustification
• rejustification
• self-justification

Related terms

• acquittal
• exculpation
• justify

Translations

reason, explanation, or excuse

• Albanian: shpjegim (sq) m, arsyetim (sq) m
• Amharic: please add this translation if you can
• Arabic: تَبْرِير m (tabrīr)
• Aramaic:

  Assyrian Neo-Aramaic: please add this translation if you can

• Armenian: արդարացում (hy) (ardaracʻum)
• Azerbaijani: bəraət (az)
• Belarusian: апраўда́нне n (aprawdánnje)
• Bulgarian: извине́ние (bg) n (izvinénie), оправда́ние (bg) n (opravdánie)
• Catalan: justificació f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 正當化 / 正当化 (zhèngdànghuà)

• Czech: ospravedlnění n, zdůvodnění n, odůvodnění n
• Danish: please add this translation if you can
• Dutch: rechtvaardiging (nl) f
• Esperanto: apologio
• Estonian: please add this translation if you can
• Ewe: afiatsotso
• Finnish: oikeutus (fi)
• French: justification (fr) f
• Georgian: გამართლება (gamartleba)
• German: Rechtfertigung (de) f, Begründung (de) f
• Greek: δικαιολογία (el) f (dikaiología), αιτιολόγηση (el) f (aitiológisi), απολόγηση f (apológisi)
• Gujarati: please add this translation if you can
• Hindi: please add this translation if you can
• Hungarian: indoklás (hu)
• Irish: réasún m
• Italian: giustificazione (it) f, ragione (it) f, spiegazione (it) f, scusa (it) f
• Japanese: 正当化 (ja) (せいとうか, seitōka)
• Kazakh: please add this translation if you can
• Khmer: please add this translation if you can
• Korean: 정당화(正當化) (jeongdanghwa)
• Kyrgyz: please add this translation if you can
• Latvian: please add this translation if you can
• Lithuanian: please add this translation if you can
• Malay: please add this translation if you can
• Malayalam: please add this translation if you can
• Māori: parahautanga
• Occitan: justificacion (oc) f
• Odia: please add this translation if you can
• Persian: توجیه (fa) (towjih), بهانه (fa) (bahâne)
• Polish: usprawiedliwienie (pl) n, uzasadnienie (pl) n
• Portuguese: justificativa (pt) f, justificação f, explicação (pt) f
• Punjabi: please add this translation if you can
• Romanian: justificare (ro) f, justificație (ro) f
• Russian: оправда́ние (ru) n (opravdánije)
• Slovak: zdôvodnenie n, odôvodnenie (sk) n
• Spanish: justificación (es) f, motivación (es) f
• Swedish: rättfärdigande (sv), rättfärdiggörelse c
• Tagalog: pangangatwiran, paghuhustipika
• Tajik: please add this translation if you can
• Tamil: please add this translation if you can
• Telugu: please add this translation if you can
• Thai: please add this translation if you can
• Turkish: haklı çıkma, savunma (tr), temize çıkma, gerekçe (tr), mazeret (tr), müstenidat (tr)
• Ukrainian: ви́правдання n (výpravdannja)
• Urdu: please add this translation if you can
• Uzbek: please add this translation if you can
• Vietnamese: please add this translation if you can
• Welsh: cyfiawnhad m
• Yiddish: please add this translation if you can

forgiveness of sin

• Finnish: vanhurskauttaminen
• Swedish: rättfärdiggörelse c

text alignment

• Armenian: տողաշտկում (hy) (toġaštkum)
• Bulgarian: подравня́ване n (podravnjávane)
• Czech: zarovnání n
• Finnish: tasaus (fi), suljenta
• French: justification (fr) f
• Georgian: გასწორება (gasc̣oreba)
• German: Ausrichtung (de) f, Blocksatz (de) m (print), Zeilenfall m
• Greek: στοίχιση (el) f (stoíchisi)
• Hungarian: igazítás (hu)
• Italian: giustificazione (it) f
• Japanese: 行揃え (ぎょうそろえ, gyōsoroe), ジャスティフィケーション (ja) (jyasutifikēshon)
• Polish: justyfikacja f
• Portuguese: justificação f
• Russian: выра́внивание (ru) n (vyrávnivanije)
• Spanish: justificación (es) f
• Swedish: justering (sv)

See also

• warrantedness
• worthwhileness

French

Etymology

Inherited from Old French, borrowed from Late Latin justificationem < iustificatio, from iustifico, from Latin iustus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʒys.ti.fi.ka.sjɔ̃/

• Audio (France (Lyon)):

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• Audio (France (Toulouse)):

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• Audio (France (Vosges)):

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• Audio (France (Somain)):

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Noun

justification f (plural justifications)

1. justification (reason, excuse, etc.)

Related terms

• justifier

Further reading

• “justification”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012

Middle French

Etymology

From Old French, borrowed from Late Latin iustificationem, justificationem.

Noun

justification f (plural justifications)

1. justification (all senses)

Descendants

• → English: justification
• French: justification