Synonyms

prejudge

American

[pree-juhj] / priˈdʒʌdʒ /

verb (used with object)

to judge beforehand.
to pass judgment on prematurely or without sufficient reflection or investigation.

prejudge British

/ priːˈdʒʌdʒ /

verb

(tr) to judge beforehand, esp without sufficient evidence

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

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Etymology

Origin of prejudge

1555–65; < French préjuger < Latin praejūdicāre. See pre-, judge

Explanation

To prejudge is to make a decision about something before you have all the facts. If you prejudge a game, you decide who’s going to win before it starts. Better hold off on the victory party until it’s over. When you judge someone or something, you "form an opinion or a conclusion" about it. Adding the "before" prefix pre- to that means you come to this conclusion before you should. If an actual judge in a court of law were to prejudge her cases, she'd make her decisions before hearing any evidence at all. When you prejudge, you count your chickens before they hatch.

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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.

Prejudge, prē-juj′, v.t. to judge or decide upon before hearing the whole case: to condemn unheard.—n.

From Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary (part 3 of 4: N-R) by Various

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