self-justifying

adjective

self-jus·​ti·​fy·​ing ˌself-ˈjə-stə-ˌfī-iŋ How to pronounce self-justifying (audio)
: seeking to justify oneself

Examples of self-justifying in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Activism was neither vengeful nor self-justifying; saving other people’s children was simply the best means of surviving one’s own loss. Andrew Solomon, The New Yorker, 30 Sep. 2024 Goldman is like a wily, self-justifying Philip Roth invention that asserts a new kind of J’accuse by shaming the court and invoking the pressure of Jewish history. Armond White, National Review, 6 Sep. 2024 Seen in light of Putin’s evolving style of rule at home, however, the assault on Ukraine fits into an emerging pattern—one that features anti-Western nationalism; angry, self-justifying speeches; and increasingly open uses of force. Daniel Treisman, Foreign Affairs, 6 Apr. 2022 The fiction was a flimsy dramatic framework for his voice, which, in his recent movies, has become strained, vain, confined as if to an official self-promotional, self-justifying role. Richard Brody, The New Yorker, 3 Apr. 2024 Traditionalists don’t bother; the study of Torah is self-justifying. Gideon Lewis-Kraus, The New Yorker, 15 Feb. 2024 The Chinese Communists were outraged that Tojo and other defendants had been allowed to make self-justifying speeches in court and to be defended by able U.S. lawyers. Ian Buruma, The New Yorker, 16 Oct. 2023 And so climate-minded consumers and the mining industry are locked in a self-justifying embrace. Seyward Darby, Longreads, 11 July 2023

Word History

First Known Use

1642, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of self-justifying was in 1642

Dictionary Entries Near self-justifying

Cite this Entry

“Self-justifying.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/self-justifying. Accessed 22 Dec. 2024.

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