verb · formal
justify
UK/ˈdʒʌstɪfaɪ/US/ˈdʒʌstəˌfaɪ/JUS·ti·fy
Band 5-6task2speaking
show or prove that something is right, reasonable, or necessary
Examples
“You must justify your position with evidence in Task 2.”
“The government justified the increase in taxes by citing rising deficits.”
“It is hard to justify spending so much on a single project.”
Band 8 sentence
“To strengthen her argument, she justified each recommendation with recent empirical studies.”
Collocations
- justify the decision
- justify the expense
- difficult to justify
Word family
justification nounjustified adjective
Common mistakes
prove→justify
Say it for a higher band
5prove→6justify→7+justify
Synonyms
defend
Easily confused
justify vs explain
“She explained her choice but couldn't justify it.”
Related words
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In Sublist 3
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