judge */*/*/

I UK [dʒʌdʒ] / US noun [countable]
Word forms "judge":
singular judge plural judges

1)

a) someone whose job is to make decisions in a court of law

The judge sentenced her to ninety days in prison.

The judge dismissed their claim for compensation.

A High Court judge found him innocent.

go before a judge:

She was to go before a judge the next morning.

b) Judge used as a title before the name of a judge

Judge Hyam ruled that the evidence was inadmissible.

••

See:

magistrate

2)

a) someone who decides who the winner of a competition will be

All entries will be examined by a panel of judges.

b) someone who decides what action is correct when there is a disagreement

The referee is the sole judge of the rules.

•

be a good/bad etc judge of something — to be someone whose opinions about something are usually right, wrong, intelligent etc

My sister is a very shrewd judge of character.

be no judge (of something) — to not have enough knowledge to give an opinion about something

I'm no judge of what makes people happy.

- judge and jury

- let someone be the judge of something

- let me be the judge of that

II UK [dʒʌdʒ] / US verb
Word forms "judge":
present tense I/you/we/they judge he/she/it judges present participle judging past tense judged past participle judged

1)

a) [intransitive/transitive] to form an opinion about something after considering all the details or facts

judge someone/something on something:

Schools are judged on their exam results.

judge something by something:

Judged by modern standards, this was a cruel thing to do.

judge something from something:

The firm's success can be judged from its growing sales.

judge someone/something (to be) something:

The water was judged to be of good quality.

The meeting was judged a success.

judge it best/right/necessary etc:

Mary judged it best not to say anything.

judge what/whether/when etc:

It's difficult to judge what kind of impression we made.

judge that:

He judged that someone must have been in the house.

judge for yourself (= form your own opinion):

I love it, but come along and judge for yourself.

b) to form an opinion about an amount, distance, size etc by guessing

You may lose the ability to judge distance accurately.

judge someone/something to be something:

Tony judged him to be about 35.

judge how far/long/wide etc:

It's difficult to judge how long it will take.

2) [intransitive/transitive] to decide who or what is the winner of a competition

judge someone/something on something:

The paintings will be judged on imagination and technique.

judge something (to be) something:

In the end, Dad's cake was judged the winner.

3) [intransitive/transitive] to criticize someone because you think their moral behaviour is not very good

It's difficult not to judge people sometimes.

4) [transitive] to decide whether or not someone is guilty in a court of law

•

judging by/from something — used for giving the reason why you think something is true

Judging by his face, he was angry.

never/don't judge a book by its cover — used for saying that you should not form an opinion about someone or something only from their appearance