Adjudicators

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /æ.d͡ʒu.dɪˈkeɪ.tɔɹz/

Definitions

1. Individuals who make formal judgments or decisions in legal or administrative contexts
2. People who serve as referees in contests or disputes, ensuring rules are followed
3. Authorities responsible for resolving conflicts and determining outcomes in various settings

Etymology: The plural "adjudicators" is simply the regular plural of "adjudicator," the noun for someone who settles a contest or dispute by applying the rules. That agent noun is built from "adjudicate" plus the suffix "-or," which goes back through Latin "-tor" to a very old suffix of the Indo-European family that marked the person who performs an action. English took the suffix in through Old French and Middle English, where it appeared as "-our," and later settled into the modern "-or" spelling. The base verb "adjudicate" comes from Latin "adjudicare," meaning to award or assign judicially, built from "ad-" ("to") and "judicare" ("to judge"). The word therefore carries the idea of judging in the sense of giving a formal ruling, so an adjudicator is, at root, a person whose job is to hand down the judgment.

Synonyms: judges, arbitrators, mediators