injustice

injustice — noun

1. a situation, action, or system in which people are not treated fairly or do not

1.nounB2
Definition

a situation, action, or system in which people are not treated fairly or do not receive what they deserve, often because of bias or unequal rules

Example

Selim felt the injustice of the court's decision when his neighbour was wrongly fined.

injustice of + noun phrase (the decision)

Thousands of citizens marched through Seoul to protest against social injustice.

social injustice — common collocation

Common collocations
  • social injustice
  • racial injustice
  • economic injustice
  • grave injustice
  • gross injustice
  • commit an injustice
  • fight injustice
  • suffer injustice
  • expose injustice
  • injustice against
  • injustice of
Synonyms
  • unfairness

    More general and less severe; refers to any lack of fairness rather than a morally wrong act.

  • wrong

    Emphasises the moral dimension — an act that is morally bad rather than merely unequal.

  • discrimination

    A specific type of injustice based on group membership (race, gender, age); narrower in scope.

  • oppression

    Systematic, long-term cruel or unjust treatment by those in power; stronger and more political.

Antonyms
  • justice

    The direct opposite: fair treatment and due reward or punishment.

  • fairness

    Emphasises equal and impartial treatment without bias.

Grammar Patterns

injustice + of + noun phrase

injustice + against + noun/person

commit/perpetrate + an injustice

Usage Note

Can be used as an uncountable noun (referring to unfairness in general, e.g. 'social injustice') or a countable noun (referring to a specific unfair act, e.g. 'a grave injustice'). The countable form often appears with an indefinite article or in the plural.

Common Mistakes

The government made a great injustice to the poor.
The government committed a great injustice against the poor.
'commit an injustice against' is the standard collocation, not 'make an injustice to.'
There is a big injustice in this company.
There is widespread injustice in this company.
'big' does not naturally collocate with 'injustice'; use 'great,' 'grave,' 'serious,' or 'widespread.'
Idioms

do yourself/somebody an injustice

idiom

To form an unfair or incorrect opinion about yourself or another person.

Mina thought she failed the test, but she was doing herself an injustice.

Don't do him an injustice; he worked very hard on this project.

Word family

Synonym discussion

Sense: noun/1

All four words describe situations where people are not treated equally, but they differ in scope and severity. 'Unfairness' is the broadest and mildest term — it covers any situation that lacks even-handedness, from a small favouritism to a broken rule. 'Injustice' carries moral weight: it implies that someone's rights have been violated. 'Wrong' focuses on the moral dimension of a specific act — calling something 'a wrong' suggests it should not have happened at all. 'Discrimination' is a narrower, actionable type of injustice based on group identity (race, gender, age) and often has legal consequences. 'Oppression' goes further, describing sustained, systemic cruelty by a powerful group over a weaker one. For example, giving one student extra time on a test is unfairness; denying someone housing because of their skin colour is discrimination; a government that jails its critics commits an injustice; and a regime that keeps an entire group poor and voiceless is practising oppression.

unfairness ↗wrong ↗discrimination ↗oppression ↗

Common collocations

Nouns

Adverbs

Phrases

  • a grave injustice
  • a gross injustice
  • an injustice against humanity

Prepositions

Etymology

LatinOld FrenchEnglish

Injustice entered English in the 14th century, borrowed from Old French 'injustice', which came from Latin 'iniustitia'. The Latin word breaks down into 'in-' (meaning 'not') and 'iustitia' (meaning 'justice' or 'righteousness'). The core idea has stayed the same for over 600 years: the absence or violation of what is fair and morally right.