Justifiability
n.capable, thoughtfulformal
What it means
The quality of being defensible by sound reasons or evidence.
Reach for it when evaluating whether an action or claim can be reasonably defended
The closure's justifiability depended on evidence of immediate structural risk.
Choose between these
6- everyday
a proposal deserves serious consideration
not when Merit can be partial and need not make the final action defensible.
- professional
defensibility
an argument can withstand informed challenge
not when Defensibility may concern strategy or litigation without moral justification.
- professional
authority or acceptance rests on valid grounds
not when Legitimacy can come from procedure even when the outcome is poorly justified.
- formal
reasonableness
the position falls within what fair judgment permits
not when Reasonableness is a lower bar and does not require affirmative justification.
- formal
logic or evidence supports the claim
not when Validity is technical and may ignore ethical consequences.
- literary
warrant
sufficient grounds exist for a belief or action
not when Warrant names the grounds, not the quality of being justifiable.
Said against
3- indefensibility
- unreasonableness
- illegitimacy
It naturally appears in
3- moral justifiability
The panel questioned the moral justifiability of shifting the risk to tenants.
- legal justifiability
Legal justifiability required a narrower reading of the emergency power.
- justifiability of the decision
The justifiability of the decision rested on evidence available at the time.
The word family
2Where this comes from
- Wiktionary, English noun sense: the state of being justifiable opens in a new tab · retrieved 2026-07-26
The definition and the example on this page are written here. The dictionaries above ground which meaning is being described, not the wording.