| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000. |
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| injustice |
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| SYLLABICATION: | in·jus·tice |
| PRONUNCIATION: |   n-j s ts |
| NOUN: | 1. Violation of another's rights or of what is right; lack of justice. 2. A specific unjust act; a wrong. | | ETYMOLOGY: | Middle English, from Old French, from Latin ini stitia, from inistus, unjust : in-, not; see in–1 + istus, just; see just1. | | SYNONYMS: | injustice, injury, wrong, grievance These nouns denote acts or conditions that cause people to suffer hardship or loss undeservedly. An injustice is a violation of a person's rights; the term can also refer to unfair treatment of another or others: “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere” (Martin Luther King, Jr.). An injury is an injustice for which legal redress is available: The court awarded the plaintiff compensation for the injury to his property. Wrong is now more emphatic than injustice and in a legal sense refers to what violates the rights of an individual or adversely affects the public welfare: “The age of chivalry is never past, so long as there is a wrong left unredressed on earth” (Charles Kingsley). A grievance is regarded by those involved as a wrong that affords cause for complaint: The warden addressed the inmates' grievances.
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| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by the Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. |
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