Verb

To hold up; to lift on high; to elevate.

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To keep erect; to support; to sustain; to keep from falling; to maintain.

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* {{quote-book

, year=1872 , year_published=2009 , edition=HTML , editor= , author=James De Mille , title=The Cryptogram , chapter= citation , genre= , publisher=The Gutenberg Project , isbn= , page= , passage=Uttering such broken ejaculations Mrs. Hart burst into a passion of tears, and only Lord Chetwynde's strong arms prevented her from falling. / He upheld her. }}

To support by approval or encouragement.

* 1748 . . Enquiries concerning the human understanding and concerning the principles of moral. London: Oxford University Press, 1973. § 18:

but there was still a connexion upheld among the different ideas, which succeeded each other.

Verb

To provide an acceptable explanation for.

How can you justify spending so much money on clothes?

Paying too much for car insurance is not justified .

To be a good, acceptable reason for; warrant.

Nothing can justify your rude behaviour last night.

* E. Everett

Unless the oppression is so extreme as to justify' revolution, it would not ' justify the evil of breaking up a government.

To arrange (text) on a page or a computer screen such that the left and right ends of all lines within paragraphs are aligned.

The text will look better justified .

To absolve, and declare to be free of blame or sin

* Shakespeare

I cannot justify whom the law condemns.

* Bible, Acts xiii. 39

By him all that believe are justified' from all things, from which ye could not be ' justified by the law of Moses.

To prove; to ratify; to confirm.

(Shakespeare)