justice
Pluraljustices (some meanings)
- 1The quality or ideal of being fair, impartial, and morally right, whether in how people are treated or in a particular law, decision, cause, or claim.
Like a set of scales that weighs every claim evenly, no matter who brings it.
The protesters demanded justice for victims of abuse by those in power.
A society built on justice treats the rich and the poor by the same standard.
UsageOften followed by for: seek or demand justice for someone.
Oppositeinjustice, unfairness, inequity
- 2The administration and enforcement of the law through courts and other authorities, by which people accused of wrongdoing are judged and punished.
Budget cuts have left the county's justice system short of judges and public defenders.
After law school, she joined the Department of Justice as a federal prosecutor.
Note
An institution rather than an ideal: the word names the machinery of law, and it often appears in official names and in front of other nouns, as in the Ministry of Justice and the justice system. Unlike the ideal of fairness, it can be escaped or evaded. That is why a fugitive flees justice or is finally brought to it, as if it were a place or an authority.
Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 1 fact
- Ministry of Justice is an official institutional name. gov.uk
- 3A formal title given to judges of certain high courts, capitalized when placed before the judge's name.
The justice questioned whether the evidence had been lawfully obtained.
Justice Okonkwo recused herself from the case.
Similarjudge
Note
A courtroom title with its own typography. It is capitalized before a name, as in Mr. Justice Krever, and written lowercase when it simply means the judges, as when Gail Collins and Bret Stephens, in The New York Times in 2024, call a ruling "up to the justices". Keep it for judges of the courts that carry the title rather than using it for any judge.
Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 3 facts
- Krever is a judge referred to by the title Mr. Justice Krever. en.wiktionary.org
- The quoted passage is attributed to Gail Collins and Bret Stephens in The New York Times in 2024. en.wiktionary.org
- The passage contains the exact words “up to the justices” in a discussion of a prospective court ruling. en.wiktionary.org
Practice
Can you tell the meanings of justice apart? Answer 3 quick questions from this page, or write your own sentence and AI will check it.
Origin
This word came into Middle English from Old French justise, from Latin iūstitia ("righteousness, equity"), built on iūstus ("just") and iūs ("right"). The Latin iūs traces back to Proto-Italic *jowos, perhaps literally a "sacred formula" that originated in religious cults, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂yew-. It partly displaced the native Old English rihtwīsnes (modern "righteousness").
Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 13 facts
- English justice was borrowed into Middle English from Old French justise. en.wiktionary.org
- Old French justise came from Latin iūstitia. en.wiktionary.org
- Latin iūstitia meant righteousness or equity. en.wiktionary.org
- Latin iūstitia was formed from iūstus. en.wiktionary.org
- Latin iūstus meant just. en.wiktionary.org
- The derivation of iūstus involves iūs. en.wiktionary.org
- Latin iūs meant right. en.wiktionary.org
- Latin iūs derives from reconstructed Proto-Italic *jowos. en.wiktionary.org
- A proposed literal meaning in this ancestry is sacred formula. en.wiktionary.org
- The word has an origin in religious cults. en.wiktionary.org
- Proto-Italic *jowos derives from Proto-Indo-European *h₂yew-. en.wiktionary.org
- Justice partly displaced native Old English rihtwīsnes. en.wiktionary.org
- Old English rihtwīsnes survives as modern English righteousness. en.wiktionary.org