Definition of justify

• a. - To prove or show to be just; to vindicate; to maintain or defend as conformable to law, right, justice, propriety, or duty.
• a. - 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.
• a. - To treat as if righteous and just; to pardon; to exculpate; to absolve.
• a. - To prove; to ratify; to confirm.
• a. - To make even or true, as lines of type, by proper spacing; to adjust, as type. See Justification, 4.
• v. i. - To form an even surface or true line with something else; to fit exactly.
• v. i. - To take oath to the ownership of property sufficient to qualify one's self as bail or surety.