Nonjudgmentally

Part of speech: adverb

Definitions

1. without making evaluative conclusions or forming opinions about the worth or correctness of something
2. in a manner that refrains from assessing merit, fault, or value in relation to observed circumstances
3. with an approach that avoids determining whether something is good, bad, right, or wrong based on personal standards

Etymology: "Nonjudgmentally" is a plain formation: the prefix "non-" attached to "judgmentally," and nothing more. The prefix comes from Latin "non," meaning "not," which reached English as a negating element and attaches freely to adjectives and adverbs. "Judgmentally" is built from "judgment" (itself from Old French "jugement," ultimately from Latin "iudicium," a legal decision) plus the adjective-forming "-al," and then "-ly," the Old English suffix that turns an adjective into an adverb. Each piece is old; the whole word is a modern assembly. Its history is therefore really the history of its parts. "Judgment" has long carried a legal sense, a formal verdict, before it came to mean a personal opinion, and the adverb extends that opinion sense into a way of acting or speaking. "Nonjudgmentally" simply negates that: acting or speaking without forming or expressing a verdict on someone's conduct.

Synonyms: objectively, impartially

Antonyms: judgmentally, critically