adjudged

EN
verb

🇺🇸

/əˈdʒʌdʒd/

🇺🇸

/əˈdʒʌdʒd/

🇬🇧

/əˈdʒʌdʒd/

🇬🇧

/əˈdʒʌdʒd/

Word Forms

Past Tense

adjudged

Past Participle

adjudged

Gerund

adjudging

3rd Person

adjudges

Description

Adjudged is the past tense and past participle of 'adjudge', meaning officially decided or declared by a judge, court, or authorized body — often after careful consideration or legal process. Think of it as the formal stamp of authority on a decision: 'The court adjudged her claim valid,' not just 'they thought it was okay.'

Examples

The defendant was adjudged guilty after a three-week trial.

She was adjudged the winner of the national debate championship by unanimous panel decision.

The property was adjudged abandoned under state law after no owner responded for over a year.

The referee adjudged the goal invalid due to offside position.

He was adjudged mentally incompetent to stand trial following psychiatric evaluation.

Root

judic

Comes from the Latin root 'judic-' (from 'judex', genitive 'judicis'), meaning 'judge' or 'to judge'. It conveys the core concept of legal evaluation, decision-making, or formal determination. Examples include adjudicate, adjudication, judgment, judicial, prejudice, abjure (via 'jurare', related to oath-taking in legal contexts).

ad

Comes from the Latin prefix 'ad-', meaning 'to' or 'toward'. It indicates direction, addition, or intensification. In 'adjudge', it signals movement toward a judgment — i.e., assigning or declaring something formally. Examples include adjudicate, adopt, adhere, adjust, address.