judge

American  

[juhj] / dʒʌdʒ /

noun

• judges
  plural

1. a public officer authorized to hear and decide cases in a court of law; a magistrate charged with the administration of justice.

   Synonyms:

   justice

2. a person appointed to decide in any competition, contest, or matter at issue; authorized arbiter.

   the judges of a beauty contest.

   Synonyms:

   arbitrator

3. a person qualified to pass a critical judgment.

   a good judge of horses.

   Synonyms:

   critic, connoisseur

4. an administrative head of Israel in the period between the death of Joshua and the accession to the throne by Saul.

5. (especially in rural areas) a county official with supervisory duties, often employed part-time or on an honorary basis.

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verb (used with object)

• judges,
  present (3rd person singular)
• judged,
  past participle,  past
• judging
  present participle

1. to pass legal judgment on; pass sentence on (a person).

   The court judged him guilty.

2. to hear evidence or legal arguments in (a case) in order to pass judgment; adjudicate; try.

   The Supreme Court is judging that case.

3. to form a judgment or opinion of; decide upon critically.

   You can't judge a book by its cover.

4. to decide or settle authoritatively; adjudge.

   The censor judged the book obscene and forbade its sale.

5. to infer, think, or hold as an opinion; conclude about or assess.

   He judged her to be correct.

   Synonyms:

   regard, consider, conceive

6. to make a careful guess about; estimate.

   We judged the distance to be about four miles.

7. (of the ancient Hebrew judges) to govern.

verb (used without object)

• judges,
  present (3rd person singular)
• judged,
  past participle,  past
• judging
  present participle

1. to act as a judge; pass judgment.

   No one would judge between us.

   Synonyms:

   adjudicate, adjudge

2. to form an opinion or estimate.

   I have heard the evidence and will judge accordingly.

3. to make a mental judgment.

judge British  

/ dʒʌdʒ /

noun

1. a public official with authority to hear cases in a court of law and pronounce judgment upon them Compare magistrate justice justice

2. a person who is appointed to determine the result of contests or competitions

3. a person qualified to comment critically

   a good judge of antiques

4. a leader of the peoples of Israel from Joshua's death to the accession of Saul

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verb

1. to hear and decide upon (a case at law)

2. (tr) to pass judgment on; sentence

3. (when tr, may take a clause as object or an infinitive) to decide or deem (something) after inquiry or deliberation

4. to determine the result of (a contest or competition)

5. to appraise (something) critically

6. (tr; takes a clause as object) to believe (something) to be the case; suspect

judge Idioms  

More idioms and phrases containing judge

• judgment
• sober as a judge

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Synonym Usage

Judge, referee, umpire refer to one who is entrusted with decisions affecting others. Judge, in its legal and other uses, implies particularly that one has qualifications and authority for giving decisions in matters at issue: a judge appointed to the Supreme Court; a judge in the pie competition. A referee usually examines and reports on the merits of a case as an aid to a court. An umpire gives the final ruling when arbitrators of a case disagree.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• judger
  noun
• judgeship
  noun
• subjudge
  noun
• subjudgeship
  noun
• underjudge
  noun
• rejudge
  verb
• underjudge
  verb (used with object)
• judgeable
  adjective
• judgeless
  adjective
• judgelike
  adjective
• unjudgeable
  adjective
• unjudged
  adjective
• unjudgelike
  adjective
• well-judged
  adjective
• judgingly
  adverb

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• judges
  plural

Participles

• judging
  present
• judged
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• judge
  simple
• judges
  simple
• have judged
  perfect
• has judged
  perfect
• am judging
  progressive
• are judging
  progressive
• is judging
  progressive
• have been judging
  perfect progressive
• has been judging
  perfect progressive

Past

• judged
  simple
• had judged
  perfect
• was judging
  progressive
• were judging
  progressive
• had been judging
  perfect progressive

Future

• will judge
  simple
• will have judged
  perfect
• will be judging
  progressive
• will have been judging
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of judge

First recorded in 1175–1225; (verb) Middle English jugen, from Anglo-French juger, Old French jugier, from Latin jūdicāre “to judge,” equivalent to jūdic- (stem of jūdex ) “a judge” + -āre infinitive suffix; (noun) Middle English juge, from Old French, from Latin jūdicem, accusative of jūdex

Explanation

To judge is to form your own opinion. The critics didn't think much of the movie, but you decided to judge for yourself. Now you can't get your money back. A person who judges, especially for a living, is known as a judge. To this day, you believe the judges cheated you out of the gold medal for figure skating because they didn't like your outfit. If you're wearing handcuffs and a police officer says, “Tell it to the judge,” that's the one in the black robes, not the one that holds up scorecards. Hopefully, this judge will like your outfit.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

judge judges judged judging

And we judge them harshly when we suspect they are, even as we conceal our own use.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 11, 2026

"Because I chose to give evidence, I cannot know whether there may one day be consequences for doing so," she told the judge.

From BBC ● Sep. 11, 2026

A judge found the leases illegal, and the VA reached a settlement committing to draw up a master plan for 1,200 units for homeless veterans.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 11, 2026

The Burbank giant has asked a federal judge to issue a temporary restraining order and injunction to halt the FCC’s early station review.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 10, 2026

“Well, who am I to judge? Of course, of course,” said the prince, reaching out to shake Boaz’s hand.

From "Night Owls" by A.R. Vishny

“Schneider’s attempt to find an alternative meaning than what is expressly stated in the documentary is unavailing,” the judges add.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 11, 2026

Daly was the host on the dancefloor, introducing the dancers and judges, while Winkleman did the post-dance debrief upstairs in the "Clauditorium".

From BBC ● Sep. 10, 2026

It would take days for some of those judges to drive back home from Washington in rental cars.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 9, 2026

What considerations do judges make in these types of situations?

From Slate ● Sep. 4, 2026

“Students, please get your entries ready for the first-ever Poplar Springs showcase! Our judges are Mrs. Kluckowski, myself, and the esteemed Chef Morgan from Let’s Get Cooking!”

From "A Place at the Table" by Saadia Faruqi and Laura Shovan

Ultimately he will be judged by his actual policy choices, but where there are trade-offs between balancing the books and economic growth across the country, this sounds like a chancellor who might prioritise the latter.

From BBC ● Sep. 7, 2026

However, Hortiz believes they’ve earned the right to be judged on their regular-season production rather than low moments in tuneups.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 7, 2026

In a fundamentally changed market environment, adapting the company to new realities is management’s core responsibility, and the credibility of that mandate will be judged closely by capital markets, it adds.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 3, 2026

Dixit, noting the millions of international aid being pledged for Nepal, said the government will be judged on how it is used.

From Barron's ● Sep. 2, 2026

But he judged, from the dull and muffled sound, that the walls were too thick for his feeble tapping to penetrate.

From "The Book of Three" by Lloyd Alexander

The rescues have mostly been of swimmers not properly judging the strong currents.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 8, 2026

The biggest issue with judging handball is often determining if the ball did actually hit the arm, and that is the crux of Forest's argument.

From BBC ● Sep. 5, 2026

Still, judging by trends on social media, it seems a lot of people are tickled by the idea that such an outcome is even remotely possible.

From Salon ● Aug. 28, 2026

Mr. Hara and Ms. Kobayashi prefer depicting to judging, leaving the latter, should we wish to engage, to us.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 26, 2026

Okay, I thought as I worked to calm down my racing heart, I was in a blacksmith’s shop, and judging from the rudimentary-looking tools hanging on the wall, I was somewhere in the 1700s.

From "Glitch" by Laura Martin

Related Words

• appreciate
• assess
• conclude
• consider
• criticize
• decide
• derive
• determine
• discern
• distinguish
• draw
• evaluate
• examine
• find
• put
• resolve
• review
• try