What's the difference between unfair and unjust?

English as a Second Language English Vocabulary, Grammar and Idioms
1

Hello everyone,

What is the difference between unfair and unjust?

For example:

In the sentence"The referee made an unfair decision", can I use “unjust” instead of “unfair”? And why?

2

As per my knowledge both are same. You can use them interchangeably.

3

I am not a pro, but I am agree with Zoobi, I think either of these two words should have the same meaning here.

Mixmixi

4

If the two words have the same meaning, why do you say you are not a pro?

5

Because I am not sure about that and that’s just my personal opinion dear friend.

Mixmixi

6

Hi there,

I don’t think there’s much difference between ‘unfair’ and ‘unjust’

Examples:

-There were some schoolmates who had unjustly/ unfairly accused him of bullying.

Yet in your sentence I would use neither ‘unfairly’ nor 'unjustly, moreover, I would rephrase it as follows: ‘In my opinion the referee made the wrong decision.’ or ‘The referee made the wrong decision.’

Detlef

7

Hi Detlef
From my point of view he should use either of ‘unfair’ or ‘unjust’ if he is going to judge the referee’s decision but if he wants to talk a bit shallower about the act of the referee he might use the ‘wrong decision’, as far as his sentence has started with ‘In my opinion’ I think he should use either of those two. I notice that it’s my personal opinion and not a professional viewpoint.

Mixmixi

8

On second thought, I think you’re right.

-The referee made an unfair decision.

Yet, since it has to do with sports and fair play, I wouldn’t use ‘unjust’.
However if you think that someone’s unfair, you also think that they do things wrong, right? I would say stick to ‘unfair’.

I’m only trying to help you the best way I can, after all, I’m not really into sports.

Detlef

9

Yeah, it seems you might be right, the word ‘unjust’ seems to covers the whole thing with a better meaning. Hope that some of the pros give us a hand here.

Mixmixi

10

I agree, there is little difference. To define some subtle variations in usage, one might say:

  • Just is often used for more important decisions, such as those of God or a court of law; fair is a bit less likely to be thus used: that is a reason why you will find fair used more often in connection with games.
  • Fair is mostly used in comparing the position of one party with another or others, where a party might or might not be disadvantaged, while just can be used when there is only one party and a judge.
  • Just can be used metaphorically in contexts other than a moral or legal decision, as in: I believe I have a just (accurate) impression of the difficulties that she faced during her childhood.
  • Fair also has some other meanings, such as “beautiful” and “light”.
11

Thank you all! I think I have understood the difference between the two words. I’d like to give my especially thanks to Cerberus,Detlef and Mixmixi.