Meanings
-
1
noun
Fair treatment of people, especially by the law.
They marched in the streets demanding justice for the victims.
-
2
noun
The system of law and the way it punishes wrongdoing.
The criminals were finally brought to justice.
-
3
noun
A judge in a high court (used as a title).
Mr Justice Krever presides over the appellate court.
Thesaurus
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).