verb
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES
the end justifies the means (=used to say that something bad is acceptable, if it achieves a good result)
▪ Their defence, that the end justifies the means, is not acceptable.
the end justifies the means (=the result you achieve is more important than the way you do it)
▪ It’s too bad if people get hurt - the end justifies the means.
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ ADVERB
fully
▪ I think the number of cyclists in this area of the city fully justifies the implementation of these additional measures.
▪ Until evidence of such ore bodies can be produced, skepticism regarding their existence is fully justified.
▪ Berger's irrationalist pessimism about the fate of ideas in history is neither fully justified by history nor required by logic.
▪ The long-term repercussions fully justify the significance attached to Emancipation.
▪ An employment tribunal has ruled that food retailers are fully justified in refusing to employ men who wear them.
▪ We not merely retained it but expanded it, and it has fully justified our confidence.
■ NOUN
action
▪ How could she when she knew she would use the same words to justify her actions?
▪ The issues to be decided are contemporary as are the actors with motives or ideas to guide or justify action.
▪ One need not invoke the authority of the law over the defamer to justify such action.
▪ Baer promptly did so, hiding behind a cloud of legalese to justify his action.
▪ She didn't know how to answer him - how to justify actions that were unjustifiable.
▪ Should any relative complain, the doctor may rely upon the directive as justifying his actions.
▪ Beyond Mr Mandelson's attempts to justify his actions, there is a final factor that guarantees his exile.
▪ Highways chiefs say there is no evidence to justify action being taken in Lily Road, Litherland.
argument
▪ There is an obvious weakness in this attempt to use an argument from experience to justify all arguments from experience.
▪ But this at once raises the question which Kant posed to himself; can, then, any metaphysical argument be justified?
▪ And that argument must be justified by appeal to our standards as well as his.
▪ The efficiency arguments used to justify government intervention in sports markets are applicable to participation, not to spectating.
▪ Lenin used a number of different arguments to justify recognizing the right to secede, and it is worth summarizing them.
▪ Philosophical and aesthetic arguments justifying non-figurative art left Minton unconvinced.
▪ Even if there were some truth in such an argument it hardly justifies such an unacceptable form of activity.
▪ Theological arguments can justify and indeed increasingly require the ordination of women to the priesthood.
attempt
▪ There was a half-hearted and unconvincing attempt to justify fins.
▪ Spenser's depictions in Book V are more than just an attempt to justify Grey.
▪ Beyond Mr Mandelson's attempts to justify his actions, there is a final factor that guarantees his exile.
belief
▪ This is justified by his belief that abstractionism does more than obscure the truth of immaterialism.
▪ But what of the actual evidence to justify this belief?
▪ The major institutions of society are justified by the belief that they are meeting the functional prerequisites of the social system.
▪ When we justify belief A by appeal to beliefs B and C, we have not yet shown A to be justified.
claim
▪ The second chapter of Politics among Nations is devoted to explaining and justifying this claim.
▪ Is there not some obligation on the part of the pursuer to justify his claim?
▪ Within the period of the notice the cautioner must withdraw or justify the claim.
▪ Combined with its up to the minute styling, these justify our claim that the Leisure 200-S offers modern looks to match its modern features.
▪ He says we feel the numbers justify the claim that prison is being used in a strategic way against asylum seekers.
▪ Before justifying our claim, however, we wish to say something about the main criticisms levelled at Realism.
▪ The Department of Health said its guidelines did not justify the claim.
▪ One concerns the type of argument required to justify a claim that a certain authority is legitimate.
cost
▪ It is doubtful whether the claimed benefits justify the substantial costs.
▪ But many specialists are unconvinced the device will save enough lives to justify the cost.
▪ The rubbish companies run into other problems as they try to push through the higher charges justified by their rising costs.
▪ Companies justify the cost in employee time in terms of improved public relations and eventually recruiting a better trained work force.
▪ Perhaps Lucker has not made himself visible enough to justify the cost.
▪ The Public Transport Unit has no evidence of demand to justify the likely cost of the service.
decision
▪ That evidence was, primafacie, of itself sufficient to justify the decision of the magistrate that the applicant should be committed.
▪ If the plaintiff gets a large award, how will they justify their decision when the other claimsmen have settled out?
▪ How does Ormrod J. justify his decision?
▪ Although the uniVersity justified its decision by stating that rePlacement Professors had been found, this was actually not the case.
▪ It justifies the decision to go to the park as a means to see the gibbons.
▪ Shelton said that he told Rumsfeld there was not enough information to justify some of the decisions being contemplated.
▪ The prime minister can not hide behind pressure from his coalition partners to justify such a wrongheaded decision as Har Homa.
effort
▪ Step 5 Determine the extent of this behaviour; does its frequency or seriousness justify your efforts to try and alter it?
▪ In turn the profession would articulate philosophy and justify efforts and achievements with confidence to the wider community.
▪ The results justified all the effort, however.
▪ Take one dose of Kali phos. 12x every 15 minutes until the results justify the effort being made.
▪ It justified this effort by the limited number of such compounds available, and the lack of interest by industry.
end
▪ The end does not justify the means, no matter what the cause.
▪ These alliances and subterfuges were spawned by an end justifies the means rationale.
▪ In this as in other areas the ends can never justify the means.
▪ But once again, the end does not justify the means.
▪ In short, do ends justify means or are the means themselves of intrinsic significance to the final outcome?
▪ Acceptance of this position involves rejection of the view that the end justifies the means.
▪ Can the end really justify these means?
▪ In those circumstances any end justifies the means.
evidence
▪ No evidence emerged to justify the apprehension of the authorities, but this did not trouble the court.
▪ Ossig concedes that a formal investigation was not done, saying there was not enough evidence to justify it.
▪ Few in the scientific community would argue that the scientific evidence justifies immediate extremely drastic action.
▪ But a department official said investigators have not found enough evidence to justify a full-fledged investigation.
▪ But what of the actual evidence to justify this belief?
▪ Grand juries only determine whether sufficient evidence exists to justify an indictment.
▪ A preferable interpretation is: a search for evidence justifying a choice between qualitatively distinct alternatives.
▪ In both instances the general test should be whether there was some reasonable or sufficient evidence to justify the action.
existence
▪ Tory Trotskyism wants to create the revolutionary conditions that will justify its existence.
▪ Pastor Braun was periodically called to Berlin to justify the continued existence of the Institution and its inmates.
▪ Since the cold war ended, many state intelligence agencies have struggled to justify their existence.
▪ Pressing public necessity may sometimes justify the existence of such restrictions; racial antagonism never can....
▪ Is necessity the test that critics must meet to justify their existence?
▪ In ideas, our movement has been very productive, more than justifying its existence by this alone.
▪ We had to work hard to justify our existence.
▪ If its artists were consistently fresh and challenging, it would justify its existence easily.
intervention
▪ The efficiency arguments used to justify government intervention in sports markets are applicable to participation, not to spectating.
▪ If satisfied they indicate that an appropriate level of concern exists to justify legal intervention but an order will not automatically follow.
▪ Owen waited for the words which would justify his own intervention.
▪ This is the manner in which he justifies legal intervention.
▪ He made immediate inquiries by telephone, but felt that there was insufficient evidence to justify his intervention.
▪ Central government also justifies its interventions in local government in terms of its concern with national economic management.
▪ What are the market failures that might justify government intervention through industrial policy?
means
▪ The end does not justify the means, no matter what the cause.
▪ Muhammad annexed the old institution, justifying it aposteriori by means of a cultural legend.
▪ In this as in other areas the ends can never justify the means.
▪ These alliances and subterfuges were spawned by an end justifies the means rationale.
▪ This might be justified as a means of signalling the connection between drunken driving and fatal accidents.
▪ But once again, the end does not justify the means.
▪ In short, do ends justify means or are the means themselves of intrinsic significance to the final outcome?
▪ Acceptance of this position involves rejection of the view that the end justifies the means.
need
▪ Yet even when they are, we feel the need to justify them; which is where Rollin resorts to moral theory.
▪ As a result, the organization has little subsequent need to justify or cover up the consequences of its actions.
▪ The truth is, I have no need to justify myself to you.
▪ With this approach there is a need to justify all expenditure and not just that expenditure at the margin or additional expenditure.
▪ Each patient area manager is asked to make an assessment of manpower needs and required to justify this assessment to other nurses.
policy
▪ The law is far too complex to justify a policy of allowing only advice and assistance.
▪ Under World Trade Organization rules, countries must now justify their trade policies on hard science.
▪ They were suigeneris, and were to be justified by considerations of policy.
▪ It provides the stock of examples and analogies which politicians can plunder to justify policies for a novel and complex situation.
▪ Executive officials can be hauled before Congressional committees and asked to justify their conduct of policy.
▪ There were, in addition, further arguments put forward to support and justify the policy of nationalisation and public ownership.
position
▪ The stories told by respondents are used to justify a particular position, as well as to criticize the characters in the stories.
▪ Two principal heads of potential liability are cited to justify this position and call for consideration.
▪ Either way, the prejudiced persons are attempting to justify their position by adopting either a theoretical or empirical perspective.
▪ In this sense ideology is a viewpoint which distorts reality and justifies and legitimates the position of a social group.
▪ Managers and professionals justify or legitimate their position in terms of their technical expertise, objectivity, and rationality.
▪ The Commission could find no compelling reason of public interest which could justify the position of the United Kingdom's government.
▪ The words of the Green party are not usually cited by Conservative Members to justify their own position.
price
▪ Great presentation lifts it slightly, but not enough to justify the high price.
▪ Besides a brilliant malbec and cabernet sauvignon, it is also producing one of the few merlots that justifies its price tag.
▪ Right: The Eradicator gets no prizes for good looks, but it's what goes on inside that justifies the price.
▪ But its effect on spot oil prices - which skyrocketed - was used by the producers to justify a general price rise.
▪ But it can't justify the price of admission.
reason
▪ But, in any event, there is no compelling reason to justify section 9.
▪ One of the reasons I could justify putting them in there was the D block where I could give them extra help.
▪ Reasons which authoritative directives should, but fail to, reflect are none the less among the reasons which justify holding the directives binding.
▪ Are they learning there are some reasons to justify it?
▪ It took away one of the reasons he used to justify trying to suppress his homosexuality, you see.
▪ Are there non-parasitic reasons that justify acknowledging the validity of consent in certain classes of cases?
▪ These reasons do not justify the righteous role which they assign to the avenging vigilante.
use
▪ The arguments that are now available to justify the use of particular methods are much more convincing than they used to be.
▪ Police arrested Hale, because they believed the altercation with Tavai had not justified the use of deadly force.
▪ You are now entitled to call yourself a specialist as long as you can justify the use of that term.
▪ However, a contextually prominent action can not justify the use of a surface anaphor, such as I did, yesterday.
▪ Yet I would venture that the landscape of our country alone would justify the use of this lofty adjective.
▪ In view of this influence on patient management, a positive diagnosis of 30.6% in patients with non-cardiac chest pain justifies its use.
■ VERB
explain
▪ The hidden agenda helps to explain although not to justify it.
▪ In such a small country as the United Kingdom, there are striking variations, impossible to explain or justify in terms of need.
feel
▪ Yet even when they are, we feel the need to justify them; which is where Rollin resorts to moral theory.
▪ Seeing events from this perspective, I felt and still feel justified in defending Jack.
▪ Ken later felt the necessity to justify his joy in Orton's adventures, which he claimed met his disapproval.
▪ He says we feel the numbers justify the claim that prison is being used in a strategic way against asylum seekers.
▪ I think he felt he did not justify the deal.
▪ He felt like justifying himself, at least to James.
▪ Some feel justified in doing so.
require
▪ The schedules require social workers to justify decisions not to act.
▪ Zero-based budgets require agencies to justify every element of their budget every year.
seek
▪ Bradley and colleagues are well aware of these problems as they seek to justify newborn screening for this untreatable genetic disorder.
seem
▪ But we're still making much heavier going of getting to grips with these and many other environmental issues than seems justified.
▪ Nevertheless, a proximal hepaticojejunostomy in a young patient seems unattractive and justifies exploration of other, less invasive, alternatives.
▪ The main conflict is between what seem justified interests to the child and what he knows his parent wants him to do.
▪ But he has seemed primarily determined to justify his moves.
try
▪ Many people try to justify stealing like that.
▪ In it she tries to justify the vindictiveness with which she treated the young girl.
▪ Jeanson received an 18-month suspended sentence for trying to justify murder.
▪ Why should we try to justify ourselves according to the breeder standards?
▪ But I will not humiliate myself by trying to justify what I do.
▪ What was he trying to justify?
▪ It is like Brutus is trying to justify Caesar's death like a mathematic problem!
▪ These people see the truth in terms of Western ideas and try to justify religion on the basis of Western ideas.
PHRASES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
right/left justified
▪ Numeric quantities can be printed left justified by preceding them with a semi-colon.
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
▪ How can you justify a 200% pay rise!
▪ How can you justify the expense?
▪ How can you possibly justify charging four pounds for a glass of beer.
▪ I don't think anyone can justify spending so much money on weapons.
▪ No matter what the circumstances, street violence cannot be justified.
▪ People try to justify the breakdown of their marriage by blaming their spouse.
▪ The issue is whether the benefits justify the costs.
▪ There is not enough evidence to justify such accusations.
▪ Torcuato is a murderer, but his crime can be justified.