[juhst] /dʒʌst/

noun, verb (used without object)
adjective (dʒʌst)

conforming to high moral standards; honest
consistent with justice: a just action
rightly applied or given; deserved: a just reward
legally valid; lawful: a just inheritance
well-founded; reasonable: just criticism
correct, accurate, or true: a just account
adverb (dʒʌst; unstressed) (dʒəst)
at this very instant: he’s just coming in to land
no more than; merely; only: just an ordinary car
exactly; precisely: that’s just what I mean
(intensifier): it’s just wonderful to see you
(informal) indeed; with a vengeance: isn’t it just
just about

just a moment, just a second, just a minute, an expression requesting the hearer to wait or pause for a brief period of time
just now

just on, having reached exactly: it’s just on five o’clock
just so


late 14c., “righteous in the eyes of God; upright, equitable, impartial; justifiable, reasonable,” from Old French juste “just, righteous; sincere” (12c.), from Latin iustus “upright, equitable,” from ius “right,” especially “legal right, law,” from Old Latin ious, perhaps literally “sacred formula,” a word peculiar to Latin (not general Italic) that originated in the religious cults, from PIE root *yewes- “law” (cf. Avestan yaozda- “make ritually pure;” see jurist). The more mundane Latin law-word lex covered specific laws as opposed to the body of laws. The noun meaning “righteous person or persons” is from late 14c.

“merely, barely,” 1660s, from Middle English sense of “exactly, precisely, punctually” (c.1400), from just (adj.), and paralleling the adverbial use of French juste. Just-so story first attested 1902 in Kipling, from the expression just so “exactly that, in that very way” (1751).


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