Meaning & use
prejudge
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Meaning
verbtransitive
To decide what you think about someone or something before you have all the facts.
Grammar: Takes an object: you prejudge a person, a situation, or an outcome.
Patterns
- prejudge someone
- prejudge something
- prejudge someone as something
Try not to prejudge the new manager before you meet her.
The committee was accused of prejudging the case.
He prejudged the film as boring and refused to watch it.
Word forms
| third person singular | prejudges |
|---|---|
| past tense | prejudged |
| past participle | prejudged |
| -ing form | prejudging |
Common combinations
- prejudge a case
- A judge must not prejudge a case before hearing both sides.
- prejudge someone on the basis of something
- Don't prejudge people on the basis of their accent.
- accuse someone of prejudging
- The newspaper accused the panel of prejudging the results.
- prejudge the outcome
- It's too early to prejudge the outcome of the election.
Synonyms and how they differ
- predetermine
- Suggests deciding in advance as if by fate or plan; prejudge is about forming an opinion too early.
- assume
- Means to accept something as true without proof; prejudge is stronger and implies a judgment about people or situations.
Word family
- prejudice noun
- An unfair opinion formed without enough knowledge.
- prejudgment noun
- The act of forming an opinion too early.
- prejudiced adjective
- Having an unfair opinion about a group of people.
Commonly confused: prejudge or prejudice?
prejudge vs prejudice
Prejudice is the unfair opinion itself (a noun or verb); prejudge is the action of forming that opinion too early.
Practice
Choose the correct sentence:
Choose one answer.
'Prejudge' means to form an opinion before knowing the facts, so refusing to read the book fits. Option A contradicts the meaning, option C uses 'prejudice' incorrectly here, and option D uses the wrong tense for a completed action.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “prejudge”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.