judgment by default
- noun
- /ˈdʒʌdʒmənt baɪ dɪˈfɔlt/
- Formal
:
sentencia en rebeldía
- The court awarded a judgment by default after the defendant failed to respond to the lawsuit.
Examples
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If you do not file an answer, the plaintiff may obtain a judgment by default against you.
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The court issued a judgment by default against the defendant.
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He lost his case by not showing up, resulting in a judgment by default.
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Have you ever received a judgment by default?
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The plaintiff won the case when the defendant did not show up, resulting in a judgment by default.
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After the defendant's failure to respond to the complaint, the court issued a judgment by default in favor of the plaintiff.
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If you ignore the court summons, you risk receiving a judgment by default against you.
Synonyms
3
7.4
An order by a court that gives the plaintiff the case when the defendant does not respond or appear
Surface Forms
Morphology
The phrase is compositionally built: 'judgment' = court decision and 'by default' = because of a party's failure to act/appear, so a learner who knows those words can infer a decision made for that reason. The preposition 'by' marks the cause/method and similar constructions exist cross‑linguistically in legal contexts, making the meaning transparently derivable from the parts.
Etymology
The noun judgment by default comes from a simple court picture: one side does not show up or answer, so the judge gives a judgment to the other side because of the default — the failure to act. That's why the phrase means a court decision made when one party 'fails to appear' or 'does not respond'.