justify

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. v. To demonstrate or prove to be just, right, or valid: justified each budgetary expense as necessary; anger that is justified by the circumstances.
2. v. To declare free of blame; absolve.
3. v. To free (a human) of the guilt and penalty attached to grievous sin. Used of God.
4. v. Law To demonstrate sufficient legal reason for (an action taken).
5. v. Law To prove to be qualified as a bondsman.
6. v. Printing To adjust the spacing within (lines in a document, for example), so that the lines end evenly at a straight margin.
7. v. Printing To be adjusted in spacing so as to end evenly at the margin.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. To prove or show to be just or conformable to reason, justice, duty, law, or propriety; vindicate; warrant; uphold.
2. To declare innocent or blameless; absolve; acquit; specifically, to free from the guilt or penalty of sin; reconcile to God.
3. To prove (any one) to be.
4. To make exact; cause to fit or be adapted, as the parts of a complex object; adjust, as lines or columns in printing.
5. To judge; pass judgment upon; hence, to punish with death; execute.
6. To agree; match; conform exactly; form an even surface or true line with something else: as, in printing, two lines of nonpareil and one of pica justify.

Wiktionary

1. v. transitive To provide an acceptable explanation for.
2. v. transitive To be a good, acceptable reason for; warrant.
3. v. transitive To arrange (text) on a page or a computer screen such that the left and right ends of all lines within paragraphs are aligned.
4. v. transitive To absolve, and declare to be free of blame or sin

GNU Webster's 1913

1. v. To prove or show to be just; to vindicate; to maintain or defend as conformable to law, right, justice, propriety, or duty.
2. v. 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.
3. v. (Theol.) To treat as if righteous and just; to pardon; to exculpate; to absolve.
4. v. obsolete To prove; to ratify; to confirm.
5. v. (Print.) To make even or true, as lines of type, by proper spacing; to align (text) at the left (left justify) or right (right justify) margins of a column or page, or at both margins; to adjust, as type. See Justification, 4.
6. v. To show (a person) to have had a sufficient legal reason for an act that has been made the subject of a charge or accusation.
7. v. To qualify (one's self) as a surety by taking oath to the ownership of sufficient property.
8. v. (Print.) To form an even surface or true line with something else; to fit exactly.
9. v. (Law) To take oath to the ownership of property sufficient to qualify one's self as bail or surety.

WordNet 3.0

1. v. show to be reasonable or provide adequate ground for
2. v. let off the hook
3. v. defend, explain, clear away, or make excuses for by reasoning
4. v. adjust the spaces between words
5. v. show to be right by providing justification or proof