judges 1 of 2

Definition of judgesnext
plural of judge
1
as in referees
a person who impartially decides or resolves a dispute or controversy their father always played the role of judge when there was a disagreement between the siblings

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2
as in courts
a public official having authority to decide questions of law the judge gave the defendant a suspended sentence

Synonyms & Similar Words

judges

2 of 2

verb

present tense third-person singular of judge
1
2
as in estimates
to decide the size, amount, number, or distance of (something) without actual measurement considering the amount of dough we have, I judge we'll get about six dozen cookies out of it

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

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Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of judges
Noun
Chow, a trial lawyer by trade, led her own defense during the court case which – like all of Hong Kong’s national security cases – was heard by a panel of three judges selected to oversee such proceedings and not a jury. Chris Lau, CNN Money, 21 Aug. 2026 The Kowalczyk decision reset the status quo for money bail, ruling that judges must consider other non-monetary alternatives before assigning bail. Evelyn Ronan, Sacbee.com, 20 Aug. 2026 Harry has taken the matter to court, arguing that the risk remains to their safety, but three Court of Appeal judges ultimately ruled against him. Jennifer Hassan, USA Today, 20 Aug. 2026 Immigration judges work for the Department of Justice, and such courts are administrative. Idaho Statesman, 20 Aug. 2026 Commissioners, politicians, administrators, agents, judges and lawyers have occupied enough oxygen already. Joe Rexrode, New York Times, 20 Aug. 2026 By the time the team’s performance and judges’ praise had given way to a commercial break, Williams had pulled out her phone. Tess Kenny, Chicago Tribune, 19 Aug. 2026 Some seats are part-time appointments and judges can continue private practice. Katherine Lin, ABC News, 12 Aug. 2026 Over the next three months, two different Contra Costa judges signed off on his release, likely due to a recent California Supreme Court ruling that has changed how bail is set statewide. Nate Gartrell, Mercury News, 12 Aug. 2026
Verb
MasterChef Australia judges Yeow and Sofia Levin later spoke to 10 News about welcoming Meghan to the set, describing an enthusiastic atmosphere among the contestants. Erin Hill, PEOPLE, 23 July 2026 Which means Beijing is regulating what your fifteen-year-old does after dinner, behind a closed door, with an entity that never tires of them, never judges them, and never has a bad day of its own. Jason Snyder, Forbes.com, 17 July 2026 But on the third day of qualifying for Wimbledon 2026, a power outage downed the electronic line-calling system that judges whether shots are in or out, causing matches across 18 courts to be suspended for over an hour. Caoimhe O'Neill, New York Times, 25 June 2026 This time, judges Katy Perry, Luke Bryan, and Lionel Richie convinced him to give the show another shot, igniting his journey all the way to the finale. James Mercadante, Entertainment Weekly, 11 June 2026 The truck just leans into the work and gets on with life like a ranch foreman who drinks coffee black and silently judges your hitch setup. New Atlas, 27 May 2026 Portnoy travels to cities around the world and judges their pizza scene by taking a single bite (or more) of a cheese pizza and giving it a review. Irene Wright, USA Today, 26 May 2026 In episode three, Mary judges Eleanor pretty harshly for her choices with Robert. Brande Victorian, HollywoodReporter, 1 Apr. 2026 The program, which launched last month, gave half a dozen Los Angeles County civil court judges access to AI software called Learned Hand. James Queally, Los Angeles Times, 18 Mar. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for judges
Noun
  • The state compared Atrium to a soccer team whining about the referees.
    Bob Herman, STAT, 18 Aug. 2026
  • Dulcich would have also been flagged for holding a few times if referees were at practice.
    Omar Kelly, Miami Herald, 17 Aug. 2026
Noun
  • The park is about 44 acres, and also includes a track, playground and basketball courts.
    Sam Blum, New York Times, 18 Aug. 2026
  • But state and county offices, courts and judiciary facilities and most public schools in Oahu, Maui and Kauai counties will reopen.
    Jonathan Vigliotti, CBS News, 18 Aug. 2026
Verb
  • Written and directed by Achyuth Vinayak, the film released in theaters in 2023, following a couple whose plan to elope is complicated when the man’s sister decides to elope as well.
    Naman Ramachandran, Variety, 21 Aug. 2026
  • For high-volume production workloads, coding agents, document processing and customer operations that differential decides the purchase order.
    Mark Minevich, Fortune, 21 Aug. 2026
Verb
  • The Pentagon estimates roughly 75% of Americans ages 17 to 24 are ineligible to serve, and has been that way for a long time, with obesity and failure to meetacademic standards among the leading reasons.
    Steven Beynon, ABC News, 17 Aug. 2026
  • The Wall Street powerhouse estimates the company's market share in the region to more than triple by 2030, to around 10%, up from 3% this year.
    Evelyn Cheng, CNBC, 16 Aug. 2026
Verb
  • The report also contains detailed data about taxable sales, personal income and other economic sectors from which the state derives income.
    Dan Walters, Oc Register, 14 Aug. 2026
  • One’s trust in a griot’s accounting derives from centuries-old reliability.
    Anne Haley, Time, 11 Aug. 2026
Verb
  • But with veterans like Bell and Taylor Rogers in the clubhouse, Shelton thinks too many managerial speeches could be overkill.
    Dan Hayes, New York Times, 20 Aug. 2026
  • Unlike some sportsmen who boast of using modern, complicated equipment to improve their shooting, Kontras thinks more of his skills as a hunter than a shooter.
    Jeff Murray, Outdoor Life, 20 Aug. 2026
Noun
  • The umpires congregated for 15 seconds, and then went back to playing ball.
    Zach Dean OutKick, FOXNews.com, 15 Aug. 2026
  • After a brief huddle by the umpires, plate ump and crew chief Alan Porter ejected Martin without any warning issued.
    Paul Sullivan, Chicago Tribune, 13 Aug. 2026
Noun
  • And rather than have the designers come to the jury (of which this editor was a member), the jurists spent several hours with each designer in their own space.
    Laird Borrelli-Persson, Vogue, 6 Aug. 2026
  • Conflict of laws issues then will go on to occasionally fry the minds of even the most brilliant litigators and jurists.
    Jay Adkisson, Forbes.com, 28 July 2026

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Cite this Entry

“Judges.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/judges. Accessed 22 Aug. 2026.

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