| / English Dictionary |
JUST
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (adjective)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Free from favoritism or self-interest or bias or deception; conforming with established standards or rules
Example:
by fair means or foul
Synonyms:
fair; just
Classified under:
Similar:
antimonopoly; antitrust (of laws and regulations; designed to protect trade and commerce from unfair business practices)
clean; sporting; sportsmanlike; sporty (exhibiting or calling for sportsmanship or fair play)
fair-minded (of a person; just and impartial; not prejudiced)
fair-and-square (just and honest)
Also:
just (used especially of what is legally or ethically right or proper or fitting)
impartial (showing lack of favoritism)
reasonable; sensible (showing reason or sound judgment)
Attribute:
equity; fairness (conformity with rules or standards)
Derivation:
justness (the quality of being just or fair)
Sense 2
Meaning:
Fair to all parties as dictated by reason and conscience
Example:
an equitable distribution of gifts among the children
Synonyms:
equitable; just
Classified under:
Similar:
fair; honest (gained or earned without cheating or stealing)
evenhanded (without partiality)
Also:
impartial (showing lack of favoritism)
just (used especially of what is legally or ethically right or proper or fitting)
fair; just (free from favoritism or self-interest or bias or deception; conforming with established standards or rules)
Derivation:
justness (the quality of being just or fair)
Sense 3
Meaning:
Used especially of what is legally or ethically right or proper or fitting
Example:
his just inheritance
Classified under:
Adjectives
Similar:
conscionable (acceptable to your conscience)
fitting; meet (being precisely fitting and right)
retributive; retributory; vindicatory (given or inflicted in requital according to merits or deserts)
rightful (legally valid)
Also:
fair; just (free from favoritism or self-interest or bias or deception; conforming with established standards or rules)
honorable; honourable (worthy of being honored; entitled to honor and respect)
right (in conformance with justice or law or morality)
righteous (characterized by or proceeding from accepted standards of morality or justice)
Antonym:
unjust (violating principles of justice)
Derivation:
justness (the quality of being just or fair)
Sense 4
Meaning:
Of moral excellence
Example:
an upright and respectable man
Synonyms:
Classified under:
Adjectives
Similar:
righteous (characterized by or proceeding from accepted standards of morality or justice)
Derivation:
justness (conformity with some esthetic standard of correctness or propriety)
II. (adverb)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Only a very short time before
Example:
would have scarce arrived before she would have found some excuse to leave
Synonyms:
barely; hardly; just; scarce; scarcely
Classified under:
Sense 2
Meaning:
By a little
Example:
the batter just missed being hit
Synonyms:
barely; just
Classified under:
Sense 3
Meaning:
Exactly at this moment or the moment described
Example:
we've just finished painting the walls, so don't touch them
Classified under:
Adverbs
Sense 4
Meaning:
And nothing more
Example:
hopes that last but a moment
Synonyms:
but; just; merely; only; simply
Classified under:
Adverbs
Sense 5
Meaning:
Only a moment ago
Example:
the sun just now came out
Synonyms:
just; just now
Classified under:
Adverbs
Sense 6
Meaning:
Indicating exactness or preciseness
Example:
Properly speaking, all true work is religion.
Synonyms:
exactly; just; precisely; properly
Classified under:
Adverbs
Sense 7
Meaning:
(used for emphasis) absolutely
Example:
it's simply beautiful!
Synonyms:
just; simply
Classified under:
Adverbs
Domain usage:
intensifier; intensive (a modifier that has little meaning except to intensify the meaning it modifies)
Sense 8
Meaning:
Possibly (indicating a slight chance of something being true)
Example:
it might just happen
Classified under:
Adverbs
Context examples:
“I offer you eight hundred for him, sir, before the test, sir; eight hundred just as he stands.”
(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)
I was just able to follow her by asking many questions.
(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)
This was a different proposition from crouching in frozen fear while the unknown lurked just alongside.
(White Fang, by Jack London)
He had just closed his hand with a steady pressure.
(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)
You don't catch me tasting rum so much, but just a thimbleful for luck, of course, the first chance I have.
(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)
It was just about two hours ago.
(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
“That is just what I was about to venture to propose,” returned the doctor with a smile.
(The Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson)
They had not been long married, and their eldest child was but just born.
(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)
Pesticides are not just insect killers.
(Pesticides, Environmental Protection Agency)
A chief rationale for peer review is that rarely is just one person, or one closely working group, able to spot every mistake or weakness in a complicated piece of work.
(Peer Review, NCI Thesaurus)
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