Browse or find a wordSearch by idea, purpose, familiarity, setting, or landing.
Be more particular
prejudge
pree-JUJ
- 01Understand
- 02Hear
- 03Distinguish
- 04See it used
- 05Choose how it lands
To decide a question before properly examining it.
It lets you object to when a conclusion was reached without having to argue about the conclusion itself.
An assumption is something you take as given while you work, and evidence can still move it. To prejudge is to settle the question, so the work cannot change the answer.
work“I do not want to prejudge the review, but I have read enough to know it will not be short.”
argument“You prejudge every proposal from that team and then ask them for more evidence.”
thought“It is easy to prejudge someone by their email signature and hard to admit that is what you did.”
A panel is close to rejecting a proposal two days before the costings arrive.
Meaning held still: Hold the decision open for one more week without defending the proposal itself.
“I am not arguing for it. I am saying we would prejudge it, and the costings land Thursday.”
It lands as: Separates your position from the timing, so people can agree with you without conceding anything.
Tradeoff: The word carries a mild charge of unfairness, which a confident panel may resent.“The costings are two days away. It seems worth having them in front of us.”
It lands as: Makes the delay procedural and almost free to agree to.
Tradeoff: Mildness rarely holds a room that has already made up its mind emotionally.“Let us decide it properly on Thursday rather than provisionally today. The same answer is fine by me.”
It lands as: Sets a date and makes clear you want a better basis, not a different outcome.
Tradeoff: Promising to accept the same answer spends your leverage before the discussion happens.Watch for: Prejudging is about deciding too early, not about being wrong. A prejudged conclusion can turn out correct and still have been prejudged.
First met in Any Other Business. Saving keeps that example with the word.