Word Direct Answers

What does "justify" mean?

Justify: To pronounce free from guilt or blame; to declare or prove to have done that which is just, right, proper, etc.; to absolve; to exonerate; to clear. I can not justify whom the law condemns. Shak.

Additional senses

  1. 2.(Theol.) To treat as if righteous and just; to pardon; to exculpate; to absolve. By him all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses. Acts xiii.
  2. 3.4. To prove; to ratify; to confirm. [Obs.] Shak.
  3. 4.(Print.) To make even or true, as lines of type, by proper spacing; to adjust, as type. See Justification, 4.
  4. 5.(Print.) To form an even surface or true line with something else; to fit exactly.
  5. 6.(Law) To take oath to the ownership of property sufficient to qualify one's self as bail or surety.

Sources