verdict

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   The decision a jury or judge makes about whether someone is guilty in a court case.

   Usage: A jury can return or deliver a verdict. In a criminal case, it states the decision about whether the defendant is guilty.

   After three hours of deliberation, the jury announced its verdict: not guilty.

   The jury returned a verdict of not guilty after two days of deliberation.

2. 2
   noun

   An opinion or judgement about something after thinking it over.

   After tasting every dish, the critic gave his final verdict on the restaurant.

Appears in

Simplified etymology

Verdict entered Middle English directly from French after French became the language of English law following the Norman Conquest. It ultimately combines Latin verus, “true,” and dicere, “to say,” giving the underlying sense “a true saying.”

From an Anglo-Norman expression combining veir, true, and dit, a saying. The saying element is related through Latin dictum to dīcere, to say.

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External links

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• Cambridge Dictionary
• Wiktionary