justificatory.

Intended to give adequate reasons for a belief, decision, or action.

Use it for

Words that belong together

• a justificatory argument
• justificatory reasons

On the page

The report offered a justificatory argument rather than merely describing the decision.

Usage notes

Primary category: analysis / argumentation / evidence. Forms: Normally non-gradable; no ordinary comparative or superlative. Legacy lexical fields mirror sense 1 only. Use numbered sense fields for all meanings. Established modern English lexical item. No separate regional spelling or grammatical inflection entry. Writing functions: justification, claim, evaluation. Commonness: uncommon.