a. [f. late L. jūstificāt-, ppl. stem of jūstificāre to JUSTIFY + -ORY.] Tending to justify; having the effect or purpose of justifying.
1579. Fenton, Guicciard., VIII. (1599), 314. To hold fast that that hath bin gotten, is a colour iustificatorie to enable the title and interest of the thing.
1691. Wood, Ath. Oxon., II. 355. Printed at Amsterdam, with a justificatory preface.
1860. A. L. Windsor, Ethica, vii. 344. A man … almost sarcastically justificatory of the claims of self-interest.
1876. Bancroft, Hist. U.S., III. vii. 109. The Newcastle administration … summarily condemned the colony by rejecting its loyal justificatory address to the king.
b. Serving or intended to support a statement.
1779. Gibbon, Misc. Wks. (1814), IV. 576. Mr. Davis has … suppressed one of the justificatory Notes on this passage.
1836. Penny Cycl., V. 269/1. In 1752 followed a justificatory tract on several disputed points.
