justifier

English

Etymology

justify +‎ -er.

Noun

justifier (plural justifiers)

1. (chiefly philosophy) One who, or that which, justifies some belief or action.
2. One who pardons and absolves from guilt and punishment.
   • 1867, The Evangelical Repository and United Presbyterian Review, page 483:

     God, essentially considered, in the person of the Father, is especially the justifier, in respect of judiciary power and authority.

3. (computing, typography) A machine, program or algorithm that justifies text by aligning it.
   • 1955, Book Production, volumes 61-62, page 43:

     When the operator starts typing the third line, the justifier goes to work on the second.

Derived terms

• self-justifier

Translations

one who justifies

• Latin: iustificator m

French

Etymology

Inherited from Old French justifier, borrowed from Late Latin iūstificāre.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʒys.ti.fje/

• Audio:

  (file)

Verb

justifier

1. to justify

Conjugation

Conjugation of justifier (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	justifier
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	justifiant /ʒys.ti.fjɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		justifié /ʒys.ti.fje/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	justifie /ʒys.ti.fi/	justifies /ʒys.ti.fi/	justifie /ʒys.ti.fi/	justifions /ʒys.ti.fjɔ̃/	justifiez /ʒys.ti.fje/	justifient /ʒys.ti.fi/
	imperfect	justifiais /ʒys.ti.fjɛ/	justifiais /ʒys.ti.fjɛ/	justifiait /ʒys.ti.fjɛ/	justifiions /ʒys.ti.fi.jɔ̃/	justifiiez /ʒys.ti.fi.je/	justifiaient /ʒys.ti.fjɛ/
	past historic2	justifiai /ʒys.ti.fje/	justifias /ʒys.ti.fja/	justifia /ʒys.ti.fja/	justifiâmes /ʒys.ti.fjam/	justifiâtes /ʒys.ti.fjat/	justifièrent /ʒys.ti.fjɛʁ/
	future	justifierai /ʒys.ti.fi.ʁe/	justifieras /ʒys.ti.fi.ʁa/	justifiera /ʒys.ti.fi.ʁa/	justifierons /ʒys.ti.fi.ʁɔ̃/	justifierez /ʒys.ti.fi.ʁe/	justifieront /ʒys.ti.fi.ʁɔ̃/
	conditional	justifierais /ʒys.ti.fi.ʁɛ/	justifierais /ʒys.ti.fi.ʁɛ/	justifierait /ʒys.ti.fi.ʁɛ/	justifierions /ʒys.ti.fi.ʁjɔ̃/	justifieriez /ʒys.ti.fi.ʁje/	justifieraient /ʒys.ti.fi.ʁɛ/
(compound tenses)	present perfect	present indicative of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect indicative of avoir + past participle
	past anterior2	past historic of avoir + past participle
	future perfect	future of avoir + past participle
	conditional perfect	conditional of avoir + past participle
subjunctive		que je (j’)	que tu	qu’il, qu’elle	que nous	que vous	qu’ils, qu’elles
(simple tenses)	present	justifie /ʒys.ti.fi/	justifies /ʒys.ti.fi/	justifie /ʒys.ti.fi/	justifiions /ʒys.ti.fi.jɔ̃/	justifiiez /ʒys.ti.fi.je/	justifient /ʒys.ti.fi/
	imperfect2	justifiasse /ʒys.ti.fjas/	justifiasses /ʒys.ti.fjas/	justifiât /ʒys.ti.fja/	justifiassions /ʒys.ti.fja.sjɔ̃/	justifiassiez /ʒys.ti.fja.sje/	justifiassent /ʒys.ti.fjas/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	justifie /ʒys.ti.fi/	—	justifions /ʒys.ti.fjɔ̃/	justifiez /ʒys.ti.fje/	—
compound		—	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	—	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	—
1 The French gerund is usable only with the preposition en.
2 In less formal writing or speech, these tenses may be found to have been replaced in the following way: past historic → present perfect past anterior → pluperfect imperfect subjunctive → present subjunctive pluperfect subjunctive → past subjunctive (Christopher Kendris [1995], Master the Basics: French, pp. 77, 78, 79, 81).

Derived terms

• la fin justifie les moyens

Related terms

• justification
• juste

Descendants

• → Romanian: justifica

Further reading

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

Old French

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin iūstificāre.

Verb

justifier

1. to show to be innocent
   • 12th century, Cambridge Psalter

     E ne vienges pas a jugier od tun serf, ker n'en iert pas justifiiez el tun esguardemenz

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

Conjugation

This verb conjugates as a first-group verb ending in -er. Old French conjugation varies significantly by date and by region. The following conjugation should be treated as a guide.

    Conjugation of justifier (see also Appendix:Old French verbs)

		simple			compound
infinitive		justifier			avoir justifïé
gerund		en justifiant			gerund of avoir + past participle
present participle		justifiant
past participle		justifïé
person		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		jo	tu	il	nos	vos	il
simple tenses	present	justifi	justifïes	justifïe	justifions	justifïez	justifïent
	imperfect	justifioie, justifïeie, justifioe, justifïeve	justifioies, justifïeies, justifioes, justifïeves	justifioit, justifïeit, justifiot, justifïeve	justifiiiens, justifiiens	justifiiiez, justifiiez	justifioient, justifïeient, justifioent, justifïevent
	preterite	justifiai	justifias	justifia	justifiames	justifiastes	justifïerent
	future	justifïerai	justifïeras	justifïera	justifïerons	justifïeroiz, justifïereiz, justifïerez	justifïeront
	conditional	justifïeroie, justifïereie	justifïeroies, justifïereies	justifïeroit, justifïereit	justifïeriiens, justifïeriens	justifïeriiez, justifïeriez	justifïeroient, justifïereient
compound tenses	present perfect	present tense of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect tense of avoir + past participle
	past anterior	preterite tense of avoir + past participle
	future perfect	future tense of avoir + past participle
	conditional perfect	conditional tense of avoir + past participle
subjunctive		que jo	que tu	qu’il	que nos	que vos	qu’il
simple tenses	present	justifi	justifis	justifit	justifions	justifïez	justifïent
	imperfect	justifiasse	justifiasses	justifiast	justifiissons, justifiissiens	justifiissoiz, justifiissez, justifiissiez	justifiassent
compound tenses	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nos	vos	–
		—	justifïe	—	justifions	justifïez	—

Descendants

• French: justifier
  • → Romanian: justifica
• → Middle English: justifien
  • English: justify
  • Scots: justifee