Explain vs. Justify — What's the Difference?

Make (an idea or situation) clear to someone by describing it in more detail or revealing relevant facts

To demonstrate or prove to be just, right, or valid

To make plain or comprehensible.

To free (a human) of the guilt and penalty attached to grievous sin. Used of God.

To define; expound

To demonstrate sufficient legal reason for (an action taken).

To offer reasons for or a cause of; justify

To prove to be qualified as a bondsman.

To offer reasons for the actions, beliefs, or remarks of (oneself).

To format (a paragraph, for example) so that the lines of text begin and end evenly at a straight margin.

To make something plain or comprehensible

(transitive) To provide an acceptable explanation for.

To make plain, manifest, or intelligible; to clear of obscurity; to illustrate the meaning of.

(transitive) To be a good, acceptable reason for; warrant.

To give a valid excuse for past behavior.

(transitive) To arrange (text) on a page or a computer screen such that the left and right ends of all lines within paragraphs are aligned.

(obsolete) To make flat, smooth out.

(transitive) To absolve, and declare to be free of blame or sin.

(obsolete) To unfold or make visible.

(reflexive) To give reasons for one’s actions; to make an argument to prove that one is in the right.

(intransitive) To make something plain or intelligible.

To prove; to ratify; to confirm.

To flatten; to spread out; to unfold; to expand.

(legal) To show (a person) to have had a sufficient legal reason for an act that has been made the subject of a charge or accusation.

To make plain, manifest, or intelligible; to clear of obscurity; to expound; to unfold and illustrate the meaning of; as, to explain a chapter of the Bible.

(legal) To qualify (oneself) as a surety by taking oath to the ownership of sufficient property.

To give an explanation.

To prove or show to be just; to vindicate; to maintain or defend as conformable to law, right, justice, propriety, or duty.

Make palin and comprehensible;

To pronounce free from guilt or blame; to declare or prove to have done that which is just, right, proper, etc.; to absolve; to exonerate; to clear.

Define;

To treat as if righteous and just; to pardon; to exculpate; to absolve.

Serve as a reason or cause or justification of;

To prove; to ratify; to confirm.

To make even or true, as lines of type, by proper spacing; to align (text) at the left (left justify) or right (right justify) margins of a column or page, or at both margins; to adjust, as type. See Justification, 4.

To show (a person) to have had a sufficient legal reason for an act that has been made the subject of a charge or accusation.

To form an even surface or true line with something else; to fit exactly.

To take oath to the ownership of property sufficient to qualify one's self as bail or surety.

Show to be reasonable or provide adequate ground for;

Show to be right by providing justification or proof;

Defend, explain, clear away, or make excuses for by reasoning;

Let off the hook;

Adjust the spaces between words;