List of 426 Sets of Synonyms - How they Differ - Total of 2307 Words - 215

SYNONYMS: judge, arbitrator, arbiter, referee, umpire.
These nouns denote persons who make decisions that determine points at issue.

A judge is one capable of making rational, dispassionate, and wise decisions: The members of the jury are the sole judges of what the truth is in this case.
An arbitrator works to settle controversies and is either appointed or derives authority from the consent of the disputants, who choose him or her or approve the selection: The mayor appointed an experienced arbitrator to mediate between the sides and resolve the transit strike.
An arbiter is one who may or may not have official status but whose opinion or judgment is recognized as being unassailable or binding: a critic who considers himself the supreme arbiter of literary taste. Less often arbiter is used interchangeably with arbitrator.
A referee is an attorney appointed by a court to make a determination of a case or to investigate and report on it (a bankruptcy case handled by a referee), and an umpire is a person appointed to settle an issue that arbitrators are unable to resolve (umpires studying complex tax cases). In sports referee and umpire refer to officials who enforce the rules.