judgment call
- Sports. an observational ruling by a referee or umpire that is necessarily subjective because of the disputable nature of the play in question, and one that may be appealed but not protested, as opposed to a matter of official rule interpretation: Balks and close plays at first are of course judgment calls, and umpires are human.
- any subjective or debatable determination; personal opinion or interpretation.
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Origin of judgment call
First recorded in 1840–50
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018