Injustice

/ɪnˈdʒʌstɪs/

nounmedium📊CommonEmotion
1 meaning2 idioms/phrases3 questions

Definitions

1

Lack of fairness or rightfulness; the violation of the rights of others.

/ɪnˈdʒʌstɪs/

nounnegativemedium
Emotion

Lack of fairness or rightfulness

The protesters demonstrated against the perceived injustice of the new law.

💡 Simply: Injustice is when something is unfair or not right. Think of it like when you don't get a fair share of the pizza, or someone is treated badly for no good reason.

👶 For kids: When something is not fair, that's injustice!

More Examples

2

She felt a deep sense of injustice when her promotion was given to someone less qualified.

3

The film highlighted the injustices faced by marginalized communities.

How It's Used

Legal

"The court system was accused of systemic injustice."

Social

"Many organizations fight against social injustice."

Synonyms & Antonyms

Idioms & expressions

An injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.

This quote suggests that all injustices, even if seemingly isolated, can undermine the concept of justice in general.

"The speaker used the idiom 'An injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere' to emphasize that human rights violations across the world impact us all."

make amends for an injustice

To compensate or rectify a situation where someone has been treated unfairly.

"The company sought to make amends for the injustice by offering compensation to the affected employees."

From Middle English *injustice*, from Old French *injustice*, from Latin *iniustitia* (“injustice”), from *iniustus* (“unjust”).

The word has been used since the 13th century, appearing in religious and legal contexts, to describe actions that violate moral or legal principles of fairness.

Memory tip

Imagine 'in' as 'not' and 'justice' as fairness. Injustice is 'not' fairness.

Word Origin

LanguageLatin
Original meaning

"right, law"

social injusticeracial injusticehistorical injusticesystemic injusticea sense of injusticeto fight injusticeto correct an injustice

Common misspellings

injustaceinjustiseinjustuce

Usage

40%Spoken
60%Written