adjudicate
Americanverb (used with object)
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to pronounce or decree by judicial sentence.
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to settle or determine (an issue or dispute) judicially.
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to act as judge of (a contest).
verb (used without object)
verb
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to give a decision (on), esp a formal or binding one
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(intr) to act as an adjudicator
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(tr) chess to determine the likely result of (a game) by counting relative value of pieces, positional strength, etc
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(intr) to serve as a judge or arbiter, as in a competition
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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adjudicationnoun
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adjudicatornoun
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readjudicateverb
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adjudicativeadjective
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adjudicatoryadjective
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nonadjudicativeadjective
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nonadjudicativelyadverb
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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adjudicatesimple
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adjudicatessimple
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have adjudicatedperfect
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has adjudicatedperfect
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am adjudicatingprogressive
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are adjudicatingprogressive
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is adjudicatingprogressive
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have been adjudicatingperfect progressive
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has been adjudicatingperfect progressive
Past
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adjudicatedsimple
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had adjudicatedperfect
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was adjudicatingprogressive
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were adjudicatingprogressive
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had been adjudicatingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of adjudicate
First recorded in 1690–1700; from Latin adjūdicātus (past participle of adjūdicāre ); see ad-, judge, -ate 1
Explanation
To adjudicate is to act like a judge. A judge might adjudicate a case in court, and you may have to adjudicate in the local talent show. Do you see a similarity between judge and adjudicate? When you add the common Latin prefix ad meaning "to" or "toward," you have a pretty good idea what the word means. But a judge isn't the only person who can adjudicate. If you're fighting with your little brother or sister and make them cry, your parents may adjudicate and send you to your room.
Vocabulary lists containing adjudicate
You Be the Judge: Jud, Jur, Jus
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Just Mercy
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Anything But Typical
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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.
See Examples For:
Critics argued that it flew in the face of innocent-before-proven-guilty parameters and that the job of police was to investigate, not adjudicate.
From BBC ● Jul. 31, 2026
“How would it work? How would you adjudicate these cases?”
From Salon ● Apr. 1, 2026
If the lien was entered incorrectly, you can file a motion to strike or adjudicate the lien in court.
From MarketWatch ● Mar. 11, 2026
The point was not to adjudicate whether the books are racist but to see what is revealed by the tropes and codes used to indicate racial difference.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 10, 2026
This enterprise required that certain social and technical preconditions be met: the existence of reliable methods of communication, a common body of expert knowledge and an acknowledged group of experts able to adjudicate disputes.
From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton
Finra, the industry’s self-policing group, adjudicates disputes among advisers, brokers, investors and institutions.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 30, 2026
Tax Court routinely adjudicates highly technical disputes between taxpayers and the Internal Revenue Service, clarifying ambiguities in law and practice through published opinions.
From Barron's ● Oct. 13, 2025
For instance, the bar nominates candidates to the board that adjudicates lawyers’ misconduct, and helps to set the board’s budget.
From Slate ● Apr. 24, 2025
Anti-discrimination organisation Kick It Out forwarded the case to the FA and it was then considered by an FA national serious case panel, which adjudicates on disciplinary matters in grassroots football.
From BBC ● Nov. 18, 2024
It is here that the microscope, as the court of last appeal, adjudicates positively in the diagnosis between these two clearly marked divisions.
From Special Report on Diseases of Cattle by United States. Bureau of Animal Industry
Notably, it has not been adjudicated whether or not the FCC has crossed the line into jawboning.
From Salon ● Jul. 10, 2026
Only about 20% of adjudicated asylum claims were ultimately granted as of last August.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 20, 2026
“It could be adjudicated expeditiously, or it could be just determining that they also agree that there was no criminal intent in the chair’s testimony at the banking committee that I participated in,” he said.
From MarketWatch ● Jan. 30, 2026
The case, having been adjudicated through settlement and investigated by federal authorities, represents a resolved legal matter rather than an ongoing crisis requiring renewed public attention through major media campaigns.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 9, 2026
Though not lawyers, these men presented cases and then adjudicated them.
From "Long Walk to Freedom" by Nelson Mandela
"But as the chief justice has said, all members of the court can do their jobs as they believe legally right, adjudicating cases without fear or favor."
From Barron's ● Jul. 14, 2026
A federal court in Texas may not stop a federal court in Rhode Island from adjudicating a case by issuing a glorified restraining order against the parties.
From Slate ● May 19, 2026
Elizabeth Price Foley and Jason Torchinsky rightly argue against an overreliance on statistics in adjudicating civil-rights cases.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 18, 2025
The report states it has made "substantial progress with the process of adjudicating planholders' submitted claims".
From BBC ● Sep. 23, 2024
But the septa could not have known that today's court would be anything but the usual tedious business of hearing petitions, settling disputes between rival holdfasts, and adjudicating the placement of boundary stones.
From "A Game of Thrones" by George R.R. Martin
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.
