judgement call
Opinion-based choice
A judgement call is a decision that requires personal interpretation rather than following clear rules or objective criteria.
The term comes from sports officiating, where referees must make instant rulings on close plays: The umpire's judgement call went against us.
More broadly, any situation where reasonable people might decide differently qualifies: Whether to tell him the truth was a judgement call.
Also spelled judgment call.
- decisionSettled course of action
- snap decisionInstant, unreflective determination
- gray areaAmbiguous, ill-defined situation
- choiceAct of selecting
- gut feelingInstinctive sense about something
gut instinct · assessment · opinion · evaluation · conclusion · intuition · in the moment · trade-offs · split the difference · benefit of the doubt · inference · dilemma · discernment · situational awareness · umpire · perception · referee · integrity
judgement, judgment, judge, judges, judged, judging, judgmental, judgemental, nonjudgmental