just
pronunciation
How to pronounce just in British English:
UK [dʒʌst]
How to pronounce just in American English:
US [dʒʌst]
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- Adjective:
- used especially of what is legally or ethically right or proper or fitting
- implying justice dictated by reason, conscience, and a natural sense of what is fair to all
- free from favoritism or self-interest or bias or deception; or conforming with established standards or rules
- of moral excellence
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- Adverb:
- and nothing more
- indicating exactness or preciseness
- only a moment ago
- absolutely
- by a small margin
Word Origin
- just
- just: [14] Latin jūs originated in the terminology of religious cults, perhaps to begin with signifying something like ‘sacred formula’. By classical times, however, it denoted ‘right’, and particularly ‘legal right, law’, and it has provided English with a number of words connected with ‘rightness’ in general and with the process of law. The derived adjective jūstus has produced just and, by further derivation, justice [12] and justify [14].The stem form jūr- has given injury, jury [14], objurgate [17], and perjury [14]. And combination with the element -dic- ‘say’ has produced judge, judicial, juridical, and jurisdiction. Not part of the same word family, however, is adjust [17], which comes ultimately from Vulgar Latin *adjuxtāre ‘put close to’, a compound verb based on Latin juxtā ‘close’ (whence English juxtaposition).=> injury, judge, jury, objurgate, perjury
- just (adj.)
- late 14c., "righteous in the eyes of God; upright, equitable, impartial; justifiable, reasonable," from Old French juste "just, righteous; sincere" (12c.), from Latin iustus "upright, equitable," from ius "right," especially "legal right, law," from Old Latin ious, perhaps literally "sacred formula," a word peculiar to Latin (not general Italic) that originated in the religious cults, from PIE root *yewes- "law" (cognates: Avestan yaozda- "make ritually pure;" see jurist). The more mundane Latin law-word lex covered specific laws as opposed to the body of laws. The noun meaning "righteous person or persons" is from late 14c.
- just (adv.)
- "merely, barely," 1660s, from Middle English sense of "exactly, precisely, punctually" (c. 1400), from just (adj.), and paralleling the adverbial use of French juste. Just-so story first attested 1902 in Kipling, from the expression just so "exactly that, in that very way" (1751).
Antonym
Example
- 1. He just liked imagining it .
- 2. It just seems that way .
- 3. This is just for delta .
- 4. And this is just the beginning .
- 5. Here are just a few .