injustice
(ɪnˈdʒʌstɪs)
[a. F. injustice (14th c., Oresme), ad. L. injūstitia, f. injūstus injust: cf. justice.]
The opposite of justice; unjust action; wrong; want of equity, unfairness. With an and pl., An instance of this; an unjust act.
| 1390 Gower Conf. III. 246 Speciall misgovernaunce Through covetise and injustice. 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 78 Occasyon to condempne his prelate of iniustyce & iniquite. 1601 in Archpr. Controv. (Camden) II. 177 The many iniustices of yo{supr} last edict. 1611 Bible Ecclus. xl. 12 All briberie and iniustice shall be blotted out. 1792 Anecd. W. Pitt II. xxix. 141 The Americans have been wronged. They have been driven to madness by injustice. 1839 Miss Mitford in L'Estrange Life (1870) III. vii. 102 The portrait prefixed to his ‘Speeches’ does him great injustice. 1879 H. Spencer Data of Ethics vii. §45. 122 The class-privileges which make injustices easy. |
Hence † inˈjusticer, Obs. nonce-wd., an agent or officer of injustice.
| a 1618 Raleigh Prerog. Parl. (1628) 27 The Iustices of peace in England haue oppos'd the iniusticers of warre in England. |