judicial

1. 1
   adjective

   Relating to the administration of justice: the process by which the law is applied and disputes are settled.

   The judicial process ensures that accusations are tested before any verdict is reached.

   Reforms aimed to speed up judicial proceedings without compromising fairness.

   Similarlegal, juridical

2. 2
   adjective

   Relating to the court system or to the branch of government made up of the courts.

   The judicial branch interpreted the statute differently from the legislature.

   In most states, court budgets fall under judicial oversight.

   Note

   Here the word names an institution rather than an activity: the courts as one branch of government, set beside the legislature and the executive. The Economist in 2013 wrote of limiting "the power of judicial oversight", meaning the courts' capacity to check what the state does. Compare the sense of applying justice, which describes a process, and the judges' sense, which describes the people on the bench.

3. 3
   adjective

   Relating to judges, the office of a judge, or the judiciary as a collective body.

   The judicial appointment process varies widely between countries.

   Strict judicial ethics govern how judges handle conflicts of interest.

4. 4
   noununcountable

   The branch of government responsible for maintaining the courts of law and administering justice.

   Reforms strengthened the judicial as a check on government power.

   In that system, the judicial operates independently from the legislature and the executive.

   Similarjudiciary

   Note

   The adjective doing a noun's work, standing in for the judicial branch as a whole. It is uncountable and takes the: the judicial, not a judicial or judicials. Judiciary names the same branch. Where a sentence lines it up with the legislature and the executive, judiciary keeps all three as plain nouns and spares the reader an adjective that seems to be missing its noun.

5. 5
   adjective

   Relating to or showing sound judgment; wise and careful in one's choices.

   She was judicial in choosing which battles to fight at work.

   His judicial use of the team's budget impressed the directors.

   Similarjudicious, prudent, wise, sensible

   Oppositeimprudent, injudicious, rash, reckless

   Note

   The sense that overlaps with judicious, and the one careful writers avoid. Usage guides commonly treat it as a confusion of the two words. They recommend keeping judicial for courts and judges and using judicious for wise choices. A judicial decision comes from a bench, while a judicious one is simply sensible. So "a judicious use of the budget" is the safer phrasing.

6. 6
   adjectivehistoricalIreland

   Of a rent: fixed by a civil bill court under the terms of the Land Law (Ireland) Act of 1881.

   The judicial rent fixed in 1882 remained in force for fifteen years.

   Landlords resented the judicial rents that the courts imposed on their estates.

   Note

   A term of Irish land history, used now only when writing about that period. The 1881 Act let a tenant apply to have a fair rent set by the court and held for a statutory term. The adjective attached to what came out of that process: a judicial rent, a judicial lease. Outside this setting the same phrase would simply read as the everyday courtroom sense.

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