justify Copy link Outline I. To free from blame1. purgo, 12. apprŏbo, 1 (to make out to be good)3. excūso, 1II. As theol. t. t. • justify: I. To free from blame: 1. purgo, 1: in order to j. themselves, sui purgandi causa, Caes. B. G. 6, 9 (but the notion differs slightly from that of the Eng.: purgo is to remove suspicion of actual wrong, rather than to maintain the propriety of conduct that has been impugned): Cic. 2. apprŏbo, 1 (to make out to be good): cf. Tac. A. 15, 59, med., posteris mortem approbare: also id. Agr. 42, in approbanda excusatione. 3. excūso, 1: v. to excuse. II. As theol. t. t.: justĭfĭco, 1: Vulg.: Tert. Corp. Confess.