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snap judgment

Idioms

A hurried or impetuous decision or finding, as in George was known for making snap judgments on personnel questions; he rarely bothered to investigate further. This expression, which uses snap in the sense of “quick,” was first recorded in 1841.

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:

snap judgment

But 20-minute coffee dates really pull for a snap judgment.

From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 12, 2026

There’s magic in that snap judgment of understanding how a technology could make your day better.

From Washington Post ● Apr. 7, 2023

Defense attorney Craig Harbaugh asserted the FBI was desperate to find the person responsible and made a snap judgment, focusing on Beal and ignoring other evidence and suspects.

From Seattle Times ● Jun. 17, 2022

Yet history isn’t a snap judgment, and Spicer in particular is a character who seems likely to undergo some revisions over the course of its various drafts to come.

From Slate ● Jul. 21, 2017

We typically regard our snap judgment as best on immediate trivial questions.

From "Blink" by Malcolm Gladwell

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023