judgment call
Discretionary choice made
A judgment call is a decision that depends on personal assessment rather than clear rules or objective criteria.
The term comes from sports officiating, where referees must make split-second rulings without replay or consultation: Was he out of bounds? It's a judgment call.
More broadly, any situation requiring subjective evaluation qualifies: Whether to tell her the truth was a judgment call.
Official court decision
- rulingFormal legal determination
- determinationFirmness of purpose
- assessmentFormal evaluation of worth
- evaluationDetermining worth or quality
conclusion · choice · resolution · finding · interpretation · diagnosis · prediction · inference
Keen perception and judgment
- prudenceCareful, wise judgment
- wisdomGood judgment from experience
- intuitionInstinctive immediate understanding
- experiencePractical knowledge from life
gut feeling · instinct · common sense · tact · judiciousness · foresight · insight · acumen
verdict
Official court decision
- rulingFormal legal determination
- determinationFirmness of purpose
- assessmentFormal evaluation of worth
evaluation · conclusion · choice · resolution · finding · interpretation · diagnosis · prediction · inference · arbitration
discernment
Keen perception and judgment
- prudenceCareful, wise judgment
- wisdomGood judgment from experience
- intuitionInstinctive immediate understanding
experience · gut feeling · instinct · common sense · tact · judiciousness · foresight · insight · acumen · sagacity
- Decision-Makingchoice, informed decision, hasty decision, weighing options, deliberation
- decisionschoice, make a decision, choices, yes, no
- judgmentscriticize, evaluate, assess, condemn, verdict
- choiceschoice, choose, decide, decision, select
- dilemmasdilemma, moral dilemma, ethical dilemma, lesser evil, crossroads
- guessworkguesswork, educated guess, educated guesses, conjecture, speculation
judgment callblack and white
Without middle ground
no-brainer · slam dunk · foregone conclusion · cut and dried · sure thing
call, judge, judgment, judged, prejudice, judges, judging, prejudge, judgment day