adjudicate
verb
Simple meaning
To decide, rule on, or settle as a judge.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
uhjoodihkaytSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
əˈdʒudɪkeɪt
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
verb
transitive
To decide, rule on, or settle as a judge.
Put on trial or hear a case and sit as the judge at the trial of
intransitiveoften followed by on
To act as a judge.
Scots lawtransitiveas of a debtor's estate
To seize or convey as security.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- C2 · Proficient (estimated)
- Frequency
- Rare
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: To decide, rule on, or settle as a judge.
Used this way, adjudicate is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- No strong connotation
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
Share your sentence
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Word family
Words built from the same root.
A person who studies and settles conflicts and disputes.
Related Words
Connected to the same idea, not synonyms.
- enforceverb
- tribunalnoun
- arbitrationnoun
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
Synonyms
Sense: to decide or rule on
Ask Vocabaura
Understand the word your way.
What Does It Mean Here?
Words can change meaning depending on context.
Use it yourself
Knowing “adjudicate” starts when you use it. Pick a next step, all free.
Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.