opinion

An opinion is a belief or attitude about something that isn't necessarily based on facts. It's your opinion that dogs make better pets than cats, but your sister thinks that cats are superior. Too bad your parents' opinion is that pets are too expensive.

You may have an opinion about a celebrity that I don't share. There's no way to prove who's right and who's wrong. Those are our thoughts about her, and that's the way it is. Ironically, when a judge decides a case, his or her ruling is referred to as an opinion. Even though what the judge says will become a matter of law, it's still just their opinion, based on what was presented by the two sides in a trial.

Definitions of opinion
  1. noun
    a personal belief or judgment that is not founded on proof or certainty
    “my opinion differs from yours”
    synonyms: persuasion, reckoning, sentiment, thought, view
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    types:
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    idea
    a personal view
    judgement, judgment, mind
    an opinion formed by judging something
    eyes
    opinion or judgment
    parti pris, preconceived idea, preconceived notion, preconceived opinion, preconception, prepossession
    an opinion formed beforehand without adequate evidence
    pole
    one of two divergent or mutually exclusive opinions
    political sympathies, politics
    the opinion you hold with respect to political questions
    conclusion, decision, determination, verdict
    a position or opinion or judgment reached after consideration
    type of:
    belief
    any cognitive content held as true
  2. noun
    a belief or sentiment shared by most people; the voice of the people
    “he asked for a poll of public opinion”
    synonyms: popular opinion, public opinion, vox populi
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    type of:
    belief
    any cognitive content held as true
  3. noun
    a vague idea in which some confidence is placed
    synonyms: belief, feeling, impression, notion
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    presence
    the impression that something is present
    effect
    an impression (especially one that is artificial or contrived)
    first blush
    at the first glimpse or impression
    hunch, intuition, suspicion
    an impression that something might be the case
    sound effect
    an effect that imitates a sound called for in the script of a play
    special effect
    an effect used to produce scenes that cannot be achieved by normal techniques (especially on film)
    bosom, heart
    the locus of feelings and intuitions
    type of:
    idea, thought
    the content of cognition; the main thing you are thinking about
  4. noun
    a message expressing a belief about something; the expression of a belief that is held with confidence but not substantiated by positive knowledge or proof
    “his opinions appeared frequently on the editorial page”
    synonyms: view
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    adverse opinion
    an opinion concerning financial statements (usually based on an audit by a CPA) that the statements as a whole do not present results fairly or are not in conformity with the generally accepted accounting practices of the United States
    conjecture, guess, hypothesis, speculation, supposition, surmisal, surmise
    a message expressing an opinion based on incomplete evidence
    position, side
    an opinion that is held in opposition to another in an argument or dispute
    divination
    successful conjecture by unusual insight or good luck
    type of:
    content, message, subject matter, substance
    what a communication that is about something is about
  5. noun
    the legal document stating the reasons for a judicial decision
    “opinions are usually written by a single judge”
    synonyms: judgement, judgment, legal opinion
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    concurring opinion
    an opinion that agrees with the court's disposition of the case but is written to express a particular judge's reasoning
    dissenting opinion
    an opinion that disagrees with the court's disposition of the case
    majority opinion
    the opinion joined by a majority of the court (generally known simply as `the opinion')
    fatwah
    (Islam) a legal opinion or ruling issued by an Islamic scholar
    dictum, obiter dictum
    an opinion voiced by a judge on a point of law not directly bearing on the case in question and therefore not binding
    type of:
    instrument, legal document, legal instrument, official document
    (law) a document that states some contractual relationship or grants some right
  6. noun
    the reason for a court's judgment (as opposed to the decision itself)
    synonyms: ruling
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    examples:
    Bakke decision
    a ruling by the Supreme Court on affirmative action; the Court ruled in 1978 that medical schools are entitled to consider race as a factor in their admission policy
    types:
    fatwa
    a ruling on a point of Islamic law that is given by a recognized authority
    type of:
    judgement, judgment, judicial decision
    (law) the determination by a court of competent jurisdiction on matters submitted to it
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