Verdict

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /ˈvɜː.dɪkt/

Definitions

1. A formal decision or judgment made by a jury or judge at the end of a legal trial
2. A final determination issued by a judicial body that resolves the factual and legal issues in a case is referred to as a decision
3. The conclusion or judgment handed down by a jury or judge after evaluating evidence ; the ultimate resolution that settles a legal dispute in court

Etymology: The verdict's core is a plain pairing of two French-derived words: Old French "veir" meaning "true" and "dit" meaning "saying," joined in Medieval Latin as "veredictum," a "true saying." Courts in medieval England needed a way to name the collective pronouncement of a jury, and the word passed into Middle English as "verdit" from Anglo-Norman, the French dialect the Norman ruling class used in legal business. The word's Latin form "veredictum" survives as a doublet, meaning English has two separate descendants of the same Latin root, and "verdict" is the one that stayed in everyday legal speech. Some scholars also suggest the construction may be a calque, a word-for-word translation, of an Old English term built from "sōþ," meaning "true," and words for "speech" or "story." If so, the Norman coinage would have mirrored a native English phrase for truthful testimony, though the link remains a possibility rather than a settled fact.

Synonyms: decision, ruling, judgment, finding, resolution

Antonyms: uncertainty, indecision, ambiguity, disagreement, controversy