judgmental
Americanadjective
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involving the use or exercise of judgment.
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tending to make quick and excessively critical judgments, especially moral ones.
to avoid a judgmental approach in dealing with divorced couples.
adjective
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of judgmental
Explanation
Oddly enough, people with good judgment are not usually considered judgmental. Judgmental is a negative word to describe someone who often rushes to judgment without reason. The adjective judgmental describes someone who forms lots of opinions — usually harsh or critical ones — about lots of people. Judgmental types are not open-minded or easygoing. Judgmental has the word judge at its root, which itself is from the Latin word judicem, which also means "to judge." Judgemental (with an extra "e") is considered a legitimate variant spelling of judgmental.
Vocabulary lists containing judgmental
You Be the Judge: Jud, Jur, Jus
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The New SAT: Words to Capture Tone
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In the Mood? 100 Words to Describe Emotions
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Root cause: Judgmental parents pressured Amy to internalize her feelings.
From Los Angeles Times • Aug. 21, 2023
Judgmental 20-somethings who have never heard of fanfiction don’t.
From Washington Post • Sep. 3, 2022
Feeling Judgmental: This answer can be as simple or as complicated as you want it to be.
From Washington Post • Jul. 27, 2022
Judgmental insinuations about other schools’ “bag men” are a message-board motif whenever a sought-after prospect turns the Wolverines down.
From Slate • Dec. 6, 2019
At the police academy, the new recruit takes the California Test of Mental Maturity, the Watson-Glaser Judgmental Test, a Rorschach inkblot test, a picture-memory test and the Thematic Apperception Test.
From Time Magazine Archive
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
