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Rectitude vs Just - What's the difference?

rectitude | just |

As a noun rectitude

is straightness; the state or quality of having a constant direction and not being crooked or bent.

As a proper noun just is

, cognate to english justus.

rectitude

Noun

  • Straightness; the state or quality of having a constant direction and not being crooked or bent.
  • * 2010 , (Christopher Hitchens), Hitch-22 , Atlantic 2011, p. 98:
  • A consciousness of rectitude can be a terrible thing, and in those days I didn't just think that I was right: I thought that “we” (our group of International Socialists in particular) were being damn well proved right.
  • Conformity to the rules prescribed for moral conduct; (moral) uprightness, virtue.
  • * 1776 , , et al.'', ''Declaration of Independence , 4 Jul.:
  • We, therefore, the Representatives of the United States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the name, and by authority of the good people of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be Free and Independent States.

    Quotations

    *

    Synonyms

    * (rightness of principle) honesty, integrity, morality

    References

    *

    Anagrams

    * ----

    just

    English

    (wikipedia just)

    Etymology 1

    From (etyl) juste, from (etyl) juste, from (etyl) . Cognate with Dutch & Scottish juist, French juste etc.

    Adjective

  • Factually ; right, correct; proper.
  • It is a just assessment of the facts.
  • Morally ; upright; righteous, equitable.
  • It looks like a just solution at first glance.
  • * Shakespeare
  • We know your grace to be a man / Just and upright.
    Synonyms
    * fair * upright * righteous * equitable
    Antonyms
    * unjust
    Derived terms
    * justly * justness

    Adverb

    (-)
  • Only, simply, merely.
  • * , chapter=8
  • , title= Mr. Pratt's Patients , passage=Philander went into the next room, which was just a lean-to hitched on to the end of the shanty, and came back with a salt mackerel that dripped brine like a rainstorm. Then he put the coffee pot on the stove and rummaged out a loaf of dry bread and some hardtack.}}
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-08, volume=407, issue=8839, page=52, magazine=(The Economist)
  • , title= The new masters and commanders , passage=From the ground, Colombo’s port does not look like much.
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-14, author= Sam Leith
  • , volume=189, issue=1, page=37, magazine=(The Guardian Weekly) , title= Where the profound meets the profane , passage=Swearing doesn't just mean what we now understand by "dirty words". It is entwined, in social and linguistic history, with the other sort of swearing: vows and oaths.}}
  • (sentence adverb) (Used to reduce the force of an imperative); simply.
  • (speech act) (Used to convey a less serious or formal tone)
  • (speech act) (Used to show humility).
  • (degree) absolutely, positively
  • Moments ago, recently.
  • * , chapter=8
  • , title= Mr. Pratt's Patients , passage=Philander went into the next room
  • By a narrow margin; closely; nearly.
  • * {{quote-book, year=1963, author=(Margery Allingham), title=(The China Governess)
  • , chapter=14 citation , passage=Nanny Broome was looking up at the outer wall.  Just under the ceiling there were three lunette windows, heavily barred and blacked out in the normal way by centuries of grime.}}
  • Exactly, perfectly.
  • Precisely.
  • * (John Dryden)
  • And having just enough, not covet more.
  • * Sir Philip Sidney
  • The god Pan guided my hand just to the heart of the beast.
  • * (William Shakespeare)
  • To-night, at Herne's oak, just 'twixt twelve and one.
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-22, volume=407, issue=8841, page=70, magazine=(The Economist)
  • , title= Engineers of a different kind , passage=Private-equity nabobs bristle at being dubbed mere financiers. Piling debt onto companies’ balance-sheets is only a small part of what leveraged buy-outs are about, they insist. Improving the workings of the businesses they take over is just as core to their calling, if not more so. Much of their pleading is public-relations bluster.}}
    Synonyms
    * merely, simply * barely, hardly, scarcely
    Derived terms
    * just folks

    Etymology 2

    Variation of joust, presumably ultimately from (etyl) iuxta 'near, besides'.

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A joust, tournament.
  • Verb

    (en verb)
  • To joust, fight a tournament.
  • (Fairfax)

    References

    * *

    Statistics

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