Judge

Pronunciation

• enPR: jÅ­j, IPA: /dÊ’ÊŒdÊ’/
• Rhymes: -ÊŒdÊ’

Alternative forms

• judg obsolete

Origin

From Old French juge ("judge (noun)"), juger ("judge (verb)"), ultimately from Latin iūdicare ("pass judgement upon"), from iūdicem ("accusative of iūdex"), from iūdex ("judge"), from iūs ("law") + dicus ("speaker").

Full definition of judge

Noun

1. (public judicial official)A public official whose duty it is to administer the law, especially by presiding over trials and rendering judgments; a justice.
• Francis BaconThe parts of a judge in hearing are four: to direct the evidence; to moderate length, repetition, or impertinency of speech; to recapitulate, select, and collate the material points of that which hath been said; and to give the rule or sentence.
2. A person who decides the fate of someone or something that has been called into question.
3. A person officiating at a sports or similar event.At a boxing match the decision of the judges is final.
4. A person whose opinion on a subject is respected.He is a good judge of wine.
• DrydenA man who is no judge of law may be a good judge of poetry, or eloquence, or of the merits of a painting.

Synonyms

• (one who judges or dispenses judgement) deemer, deemster
• (official of the court) justice, sheriff

Derived terms

• sober as a judge

Verb

1. (transitive) To sit in judgment on; to pass sentence on.A higher power will judge you after you are dead.
2. (intransitive) To sit in judgment, to act as judge.Justices in this country judge without appeal.
3. (transitive) To form an opinion on.I judge a man’s character by the cut of his suit.
4. (intransitive) To arbitrate; to pass opinion on something, especially to settle a dispute etc.We cannot both be right: you must judge between us.
5. (transitive) To have as an opinion; to consider, suppose.I judge it safe to leave the house once again.
6. (intransitive) To form an opinion; to infer.I judge from the sky that it might rain later.
• 1884: Mark Twain, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Chapter VIIITHE sun was up so high when I waked that I judged it was after eight o'clock.
7. (transitive, intransitive) To criticize or label another person or thing.

Synonyms

Related terms