judge
/dʒʌdʒ
/noun
1A public officer appointed to decide cases in a law court: he is due to appear before a judge and jury on Monday a High Court Judge...
- The judges made this particular aspect of public policy and the judges are entitled to change it.
- It has to be applied in a variety of cases, and it is a matter for the judges of the Family Law Court as to whether it applies to a particular case.
- That would pass over sentencing powers from judges to probation officers, which is the exact opposite of what she said when she began her speech.
Synonyms
justice, magistrate, His/Her/Your Honour;
Law Lord, Lord Justice;
(judges) the judiciary;
in England & Wales recorder;
in Scotland sheriff;
in the Isle of Man deemster;
in the Channel Islands jurat;
North American jurist, surrogate;
Spanish alcalde
informal beak, m'lud
historical reeve
Scottish historical sheriff-depute, bailie
1.1A person who decides the results of a competition: a distinguished panel of judges select the winning design...
- Mr Lewis will head a panel of judges to select the winning entry.
- For the 2001 National Open Framing Competition, three judges selected these winners from among the eight entries.
- London United, the Fulwell-based bus company, is just the ticket for passengers, decided the judges in a prestigious competition.
1.2A person able or qualified to give an opinion on something: she was a good judge of character...
- Is she therefore a good judge of character and ability?
- A scratch golfer who mixes freely with professionals in that game, McGwire is a good judge of what he sees and hears around the circuit.
- He had a great attachment to the soil and was a good judge of stock.
2A leader having temporary authority in ancient Israel in the period between Joshua and the kings. See also Judges.After him, the period of the judges began, the judges made sure that the Jews were acting properly....
- Deborah was the only woman to be a judge of Israel, a position equal to that of a king.
verb [with object]
1Form an opinion or conclusion about: a production can be judged according to the canons of aesthetic criticism [with clause]: it is hard to judge whether such opposition is justified [no object]: judging from his letters home, Monty was in good spirits...
- He knows that, judging from opinion poll research, concentrating on Europe as an issue is normally the route to defeat.
- The majority of America must then be liberals, judging from recent public opinion polls.
- It sounds like hard work - it is hard work - but judging from the volunteer diaries on the website, it is very rewarding.
Synonyms
form the opinion, come to the conclusion, conclude, decide, determine;
consider, believe, think, deem, view;
deduce, gather, infer, gauge, tell, see, say, estimate, assess, guess, surmise, conjecture;
regard as, hold, see as, look on as, take to be, rate as, rank as, class as, count
informal reckon, figure, guesstimate
1.1Decide (a case) in a law court: other cases were judged by tribunal...
- It is important that all cases are judged on the individual circumstances.
- The judge is bound to endeavor to judge each case on the basis of the codified law.
- His case will be heard by a three-member disciplinary commission, which will judge the case and assess the penalty.
Synonyms
try, hear, sit in judgement on;
adjudicate, decide, give a ruling/verdict on, pass judgement on
1.2 [with object and complement] Give a verdict on (someone) in a law court: she was judged innocent of murder
Synonyms
adjudge, pronounce, decree, rule, find
1.3Decide the results of (a competition): she was there to judge the contest...
- The functional digital car competition is judged on effective use of virtual prototyping tools.
- The kids joined in the auction school, and male vocalist of the year Adam Harvey spent hours judging the ute competition.
- We won that a few years ago and we go around now judging competitions.
Synonyms
adjudicate, arbitrate, umpire, referee, mediate, moderate;
officiate
assess, appraise, evaluate, weigh up;
examine, review, criticize
informal size up
Derivatives
judgeship
/ noun ...- Congress voted last fall to create 15 new district judgeships, but the last time appeals courts were expanded was 1990.
- That's why local judgeships are so rife with corruption.
- There are no open primaries for New York Supreme Court judgeships.
Origin
Middle English: from Old French juge (noun), juger (verb), from Latin judex, judic-, from jus 'law' + dicere 'to say'.
The word judge, recorded in English since the Middle Ages, looks back to a Latin word based on jus ‘law’ (the source also of just (Late Middle English), justice (Old English), injury (Late Middle English)), and dicere ‘to say’. Judges are often thought of as solemn and impressive figures, and the expression sober as a judge goes back to the 17th century, with sober originally meaning ‘serious, grave’ rather than ‘not drunk’.