justificar

to justify

verb hoos-tee-fee-KAHR Less Common

Also means

to warrant

Usage Note

Justificar is used both in the sense of explaining or providing reasons (justificar una decisión) and in typography/word-processing for text alignment (texto justificado). The reflexive justificarse means to make excuses for oneself. It takes a spelling change in the first-person preterite — justifiqué, with qu before é to keep the hard k sound.

Examples

"Nadie puede justificar esa actitud."

Natural Translation

Nobody can justify that attitude.

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