judging

1. 1
   verb

   Present participle and gerund of judge.

   The committee began judging the applications shortly after lunch.

   Judging the finalists fairly took the panel the whole weekend.

   Note

   The everyday working form of the verb keeps both of its constructions. It can take an object (judging the applications), or it can stand without one, as when someone is judging at a contest. Older uses in which to judge meant to condemn someone or to award something by ruling have fallen away. Judging today means appraising or deciding, not sentencing.

2. 2
   noununcountable

   The act of forming an opinion or reaching a decision about something.

   The judging of the entries stretched well into the evening.

   Fair judging means weighing every detail before reaching a verdict.

   Similarassessment, evaluation, adjudication

   Note

   Usually a mass noun for the whole process, as in the judging of the entries, but it can also count single acts. Philosophy of mind uses that plural: Dale Jacquette's The Cambridge Companion to Brentano (2004) contrasts "blind and self-evident judgings." Where judgment can suggest the verdict itself, judgings keeps attention on the mental act of making it.

3. 3
   adjective

   Tending to form harsh or critical opinions about others.

   I could feel their judging stares from across the room.

   He had a judging manner that put everyone on edge.

   Similarjudgmental, critical, disapproving, censorious

   Oppositeaccepting, tolerant

   Note

   A gradable adjective, so it takes more and most: a more judging look, the most judging person in the room. That is the quickest way to tell it apart from the verb form. Judging stares describes a kind of stare, while judging the finalists takes an object and names an activity. Judgmental means the same thing and can stand in wherever this word does.

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