justifiable
adjective
justifiable is spelled J-U-S-T-I-F-I-A-B-L-E: 11 letters and 5 syllables. It appears 1.4 times per million words in written English, the 24,170th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As an adjective, justifiable means “That can be justified” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in justifiable?
| Letters | 11: J-U-S-T-I-F-I-A-B-L-E |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 5 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 1.4 times per million words; the 24,170th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How common is justifiable?
Justifiable appears 1.4 times per million words in written English, the 24,170th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce justifiable?
Justifiable has 5 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-justifiable.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of justifiable
- more justifiable comparative
- most justifiable superlative
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does justifiable mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adjective
- 1
That can be justified.
Near-synonyms: defensible, excusable
- 2
Describing an illegal and intentional act that is nevertheless not blameworthy, for example because its positive consequences outweighed the bad. Distinguished from excusable, describing an involuntary illegal act.
justifiable homicide
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Justifiable in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense that can be justified:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | justifiable, défendable |
| Portuguese | justificável |
| Spanish | justificable |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does justifiable come from?
From Middle French justifiable. By surface analysis, justify + -able.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).