Judgment

Table of contents

1 English 1.1 Etymology 1.2 Noun 1.3 Derived terms 1.4 Synonyms

English

Etymology

Old English jugement , French jugement, Late Latin judicamentum , from Latin judicare . See judge.

Noun

judgment (plural judgments)

1. The act of judging; the operation of the mind, involving comparison and discrimination, by which a knowledge of the values and relations of things, whether of moral qualities, intellectual concepts, logical propositions, or material facts, is obtained; as, by careful judgment he avoided the peril; by a series of wrong judgments he forfeited confidence.

   • I oughte deme, of skilful jugement, That in the salte sea my wife is deed. - Geoffrey Chaucer .

2. The power or faculty of performing such operations; esp., when unqualified, the faculty of judging or deciding rightly, justly, or wisely; good sense; as, a man of judgment; a politician without judgment.
   • He shall judge thy people with righteousness and thy poor with judgment. - Psalms 72:2 (Bible).
   • Hermia. I would my father look'd but with my eyes. Theseus. Rather your eyes must with his judgment look. - Shakespeare, A Midsummer Night's Dream, I-i
3. The conclusion or result of judging; an opinion; a decision.

   • She in my judgment was as fair as you. - Shakespeare, Two Gentlemen of Verona, IV-iv

   • Who first his judgment asked, and then a place. - Alexander Pope .
4. The act of determining, as in courts of law, what is conformable to law and justice; also, the determination, decision, or sentence of a court, or of a judge; the mandate or sentence of God as the judge of all.
   • In judgments between rich and poor, consider not what the poor man needs, but what is his own. - Jer. Taylor .

   • Most heartily I do beseech the court To give the judgment. - Shakespeare, Merchant of Venice, IV-i

5. (Philosophy)
   1. That act of the mind by which two notions or ideas which are apprehended as distinct are compared for the purpose of ascertaining their agreement or disagreement. The comparison may be threefold: (1) Of individual objects forming a concept. (2) Of concepts giving what is technically called a judgment. (3) Of two judgments giving an inference. Judgments have been further classed as analytic, synthetic, and identical.
   2. That power or faculty by which knowledge dependent upon comparison and discrimination is acquired.

      • A judgment is the mental act by which one thing is affirmed or denied of another. - Sir W. Hamilton .
      • The power by which we are enabled to perceive what is true or false, probable or improbable, is called by logicians the faculty of judgment. - Stewart? .

6. A calamity regarded as sent by God, by way of recompense for wrong committed; a providential punishment.

   • Judgments are prepared for scorners. - Proverbs 19:29 (Bible).
   • This judgment of the heavens that makes us tremble. - Shakespeare, King Lear, V-iii

7. (Theology) The final award; the last sentence.

Judgment, abridgment, acknowledgment, and lodgment are in England sometimes written, judgement, abridgement, acknowledgement, and lodgement. &hand; Judgment is used adjectively in many self-explaining combinations; as, judgment hour; judgment throne.

Derived terms

• arrest of judgment
• judgment day
• judgment debt
• judgment hall
• judgment of God
• judgment seat
• judgment summons

Synonyms

WikiSaurus:judgment