iustificabilis

Iustificabilis is a Latin adjective meaning “able to be justified” or “justifiable.” It is formed from the verb iustificare, “to justify,” which itself derives from iustus, “just,” with the causative/facere construction that yields a sense of making or declaring just. The suffix -abilis indicates potential or capability, producing a term that can describe a claim, action, or position that can be defended as just.

In Latin usage, iustificabilis would typically modify a noun to denote its justificatory character. The neuter singular form is usually iustificabile, while the masculine and feminine forms appear as iustificabiles in the appropriate syntactic context. The word is part of a broader semantic field that includes iustificatio (“justification”) and iustificare (“to justify”), which appear more commonly in classical and late antique texts.

Historically, iustificabilis is not a frequent staple of classical prose but appears in legal, theological, or scholastic Latin where discussions about the justification of actions, beliefs, or statements arise. In such contexts, it may be used to label a claim as defensible or to evaluate whether a given cause is defensible.

Related terms include iustificatio, iustificare, and the broader concept of justification found in philosophical and theological writings. The word provides a useful example of Latin adjective formation with the -abilis suffix and illustrates how Latin expresses modality of justification.