Alternative spellings

• judgement (Commonwealth)

Noun

Singular judgment

Plural judgments

judgment (plural judgments)

1. The act of judging.
2. The power or faculty of performing such operations; especially, when unqualified, the faculty of judging or deciding rightly, justly, or wisely; as, a man of judgment; a politician without judgment.
   • Psalms 72:2 (King James Version).

     He shall judge thy people with righteousness and thy poor with judgment.

   • Shakespeare, A Midsummer Night's Dream, I-i

     Hermia. I would my father look'd but with my eyes. Theseus. Rather your eyes must with his judgment look.

3. The conclusion or result of judging; an opinion; a decision.
   • Shakespeare, Two Gentlemen of Verona, IV-iv

     She in my judgment was as fair as you.

4. (law) 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.
   • Jeremy Taylor.

     In judgments between rich and poor, consider not what the poor man needs, but what is his own.

   • Shakespeare, Merchant of Venice, IV-i

     Most heartily I do beseech the court To give the judgment.

5. (theology) The final award; the last sentence.

The term judgment (AE) or judgement (BE) generally refers to the considered evaluation of evidence in the formation of making a decision. The term has three distinct uses:

• Informal and psychology – used in reference to the quality of cognitive faculties and adjudicational capabilities of particular individuals, typically called wisdom or discernment.
• Legal – used in the context of legal trial, to refer to a final finding, statement, or ruling, based on a considered weighing of evidence, called "adjudication".
• Religious – used in the concept of salvation to refer to the adjudication of God in determining reward or punishment for each and all human beings.