Able to be supported by sufficient reasons, evidence, or moral grounds.
Reach for it when evaluating whether a choice can be responsibly defended before it is made
The extra expense was justifiable because it made the crossing safer.
| playful | |
|---|---|
| everyday | |
| professional | |
| formal |
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playful
on solid ground
Fits when informal language should signal strong support
Careful The metaphor is imprecise about whether evidence, law, or ethics supplies the ground.
everyday
explainable
Fits when causes or reasoning can be made understandable
Careful An action can be explainable yet still wrong or unjustifiable.
everyday
Fits when the choice falls within sensible accepted bounds
Careful Reasonable is broader and can rely on convention instead of explicit justification.
professional
Fits when a decision can withstand informed criticism
Careful Defensible may mean arguable rather than ethically or factually sound.
professional
Fits when authority, process, or purpose gives the act standing
Careful Legitimacy does not prove that a particular consequence is justified.
formal
Fits when the response matches the scale of need or harm
Careful Proportionality is one condition and may not settle the whole justification.
formal
Fits when available evidence makes the response appropriate
Careful Warranted suggests the threshold is already met, while justifiable can remain conditional.
justifiable expense
The accessibility work is a justifiable expense with measurable public benefit.
morally justifiable
Emergency restrictions are morally justifiable only with necessity, review, and limits.
justifiable concern
A justifiable concern should lead to evidence gathering rather than accusation.
Definitions and examples are written for this site. How words are chosen Recording: Vealhurl, Southern England accent, from Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0 Updated
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