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

Synonyms & Similar Words

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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

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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
Defiant, Mladic acted bullishly during his trial and yelled at the judges when sentenced to life in prison. Jovana Gec, Los Angeles Times, 27 Aug. 2026 The couple were known in South Florida for their dinner parties at their homes in Miami Beach and Coconut Grove that gathered musicians, fellow attorneys and judges, senators, bankers, philanthropists and journalists. Howard Cohen, Miami Herald, 27 Aug. 2026 In the 4th Circuit case, two judges appointed by Democratic presidents ruled that the FCC’s interpretation of the law was wrong, and one judge appointed by a Republican president said the FCC got it right. Jon Brodkin, ArsTechnica, 27 Aug. 2026 The postponements began shortly after federal judges this month rejected the administration’s attempts to use blanket pauses, rather than individual assessments, to prevent certain immigrants from receiving visas over public-charge concerns. María Luisa Paúl, USA Today, 27 Aug. 2026 The Kansas City Immigration Court tries to have at least seven judges overseeing cases, Sharma-Crawford said. Taylor O'Connor, Kansas City Star, 26 Aug. 2026 Following the hearing, which lasted all day on Tuesday, the judges require time to fully consider all of the evidence and arguments submitted before writing up their findings and issuing a final decision. Luke Smith, New York Times, 26 Aug. 2026 The Spice Girl, like her fellow judges, struggled to be heard over the raucous audience. Lars Brandle, Billboard, 26 Aug. 2026 But Pirro’s wins are not a perfect streak, as judges granted the Youth Rehabilitation Act sentences in other cases over her team’s objections. Hudson Crozier, The Washington Examiner, 26 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
  • That said, England’s best VARs are still predominantly EPL referees, too.
    Graham Scott, New York Times, 25 Aug. 2026
  • The state compared Atrium to a soccer team whining about the referees.
    Bob Herman, STAT, 18 Aug. 2026
Noun
  • The film also scrutinizes the failures across policing, the courts and social institutions that critics say let his abuse persist largely undetected for so long.
    Naman Ramachandran, Variety, 25 Aug. 2026
  • Trump has tried several times to end birthright citizenship, but those challenges have been rejected by courts, including the Supreme Court.
    Matthew Lee, Fortune, 24 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
  • An analysis by The Rockefeller Foundation estimates that locally sourced NY FAM programs would drive nearly $30 million to local farms each year, improving the bottom line of around 630 small- or midsize farms.
    Marian Flaxman, New York Daily News, 23 Aug. 2026
  • The Congressional Budget Office estimates that for every dollar added to the deficit, private investment loses 33 cents, which diminishes economic growth and wages over time.
    Medora Lee, USA Today, 21 Aug. 2026
Verb
  • In those situations, advice derives much of its value from trust, accountability and experience.
    Alex Shahidi, Forbes.com, 21 Aug. 2026
  • The authority of objects derives from their imperviousness—but too total an imperviousness precludes writing and action altogether.
    Becca Rothfeld, New Yorker, 16 Aug. 2026
Verb
  • While there may be dissent about how much transparency is the right amount, no one thinks Warsh is going to deliver a lot of it Friday.
    Brian Cheung, NBC news, 28 Aug. 2026
  • Corruption is what political scientists call a valence issue – almost everyone thinks corruption is bad, but not everyone agrees about how much of it there is.
    Robert Boatright, The Conversation, 27 Aug. 2026
Noun
  • Managers or pitching coaches making mound visits will sometimes signal toward umpires for a timeout.
    Chandler Rome, New York Times, 23 Aug. 2026
  • But the umpires thought otherwise and forced him to pull Brown.
    ABC News, ABC News, 22 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 28 Aug. 2026.

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