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Meaning & use

poor judgment

noun·Everyday

Last updated

UK/ˌpɔː ˈdʒʌdʒmənt/
US/ˌpʊr ˈdʒʌdʒmənt/

Meanings

  1. noununcountabledisapproving

    A tendency to make unwise decisions or to misjudge people or situations.

    Grammar: Uncountable: he showed poor judgment, not 'a poor judgment' in most cases.

    Patterns

    • show poor judgment
    • poor judgment in doing something

    Leaving the door unlocked all night showed poor judgment.

    The manager admitted that hiring him was a sign of poor judgment.

    Poor judgment in choosing friends got him into trouble.

  2. nouncountable

    A single decision that turns out to be unwise.

    Grammar: In this sense it is often 'an error of judgment'.

    Patterns

    • a lapse of poor judgment

    Sending that email was a moment of poor judgment.

    She called her remark a lapse of poor judgment.

    The coach said the substitution was poor judgment on his part.

Common combinations

show poor judgment
He showed poor judgment by driving in the storm.
exercise poor judgment
The pilot was accused of exercising poor judgment.
a lapse in judgment
It was a lapse in judgment that she regretted.
poor judgment call
Trusting the stranger was a poor judgment call.
result from poor judgment
The accident resulted from poor judgment.

Synonyms and how they differ

foolishness
Foolishness is a general word for silly behavior, while poor judgment focuses on bad decision-making.
misjudgment
Misjudgment points to one mistaken assessment, whereas poor judgment can describe a habit.
bad call
Bad call is casual and refers to a single decision, while poor judgment is formal and can describe a character trait.
recklessness
Recklessness means ignoring danger, which is stronger than simply deciding badly.

Opposites

good judgmentwisdom

Word family

judge verb
to form an opinion or decide
judgment noun
the ability to decide sensibly
judgmental adjective
quick to criticize others
misjudge verb
to form a wrong opinion

Commonly confused: poor judgment or judgmental?

poor judgment vs judgmental

Judgmental means critical of others, which is not the same as having poor judgment.

Practice

Spending his whole savings on one risky bet was an example of ___.

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