justice

Reading level: medium

Estimated CEFR level: A2 — Elementary

Estimated from word frequency; not an official CEFR classification.

Definition

  1. noun the quality of being just or fair
  2. noun judgment involved in the determination of rights and the assignment of rewards and punishments
  3. noun a public official authorized to decide questions brought before a court of justice

Etymology

From Middle English justice, from Old French justise, justice (Modern French justice), from Latin iūstitia (“righteousness, equity”), from iūstus (“just”), from iūs (“right”), from Proto-Italic *jowos, perhaps literally "sacred formula", a word peculiar to Latin (not general Italic) that originated in the religious cults, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂yew-. Doublet of Justitia. Partly displaced native Old English rihtwīsnes (Modern English righteousness < rightwiseness).

In classic literature

Synonyms

justness

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