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Glite Dictionary
to cloud judgment

to cloud judgment

22 6.7
Make someone unable to think clearly because of strong feelings or outside pressure
  • idiom
translation icon : nublar el juicio
  • You let your ego cloud your judgment.
  • let anything cloud judgment
  • emotions cloud judgment
  • personal feelings cloud judgment

Because the the fact of the matter is intimacy for tons of people clouds their judgment, plain and simple.

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Examples

  • Do not let stubbornness cloud your judgment when assessing your team.

    Blog text (30)

  • You are allowing a family quarrel to cloud your judgment.

    Megiddo: The Omega Code 2 (2001)

  • I will not let the fear of making a mistake cloud my judgment.

    Blog text (22)

  • I let my emotions cloud my judgment.

    Ghosted (2023)

  • You let emotion cloud your judgment.

    American Assassin (2017)

  • Don't let it cloud your judgment.

    Black Swarm (2007)

  • Don't let the media cloud your judgment; do your own research.

    Blog text (11)

  • I just believe he has let his enthusiasm (and possibly his investments) cloud his judgment.

    Blog text (29)

  • I hope the fact that she's a sweet little girl is not clouding your judgment.

    Eye in the Sky (2015)

  • I let my emotions cloud judgment when making that decision.

Synonyms

to becloud someone's judgment
vsto cloud judgment
8.3

To make a person's thinking unclear so they decide badly

attributes the confusion to emotions or external influences

Antonyms

clarity
152 3.0

How easy it is to understand what someone says or writes

clear-thinking
3 4.2

Able to think calmly and logically without confusion or distraction

Surface Forms

cloud judgment infinitive
clouded judgment past
clouded judgment past participle
clouding judgment present participle
clouds judgment third person singular

Morphology

cloud + judgment

The meaning 'to make someone unable to think clearly' is directly derivable from combining 'cloud' (to obscure) with 'judgment' (decision-making): the metaphor of obscuring vision maps straightforwardly to obscuring mental clarity. This compositional pattern is common across languages (e.g., Spanish 'nublar el juicio'), so a B1 learner who knows both constituents should be able to infer the MWE's meaning.

Etymology

Cloud judgment comes from the image of a dark cloud moving in front of the sun and making it hard to see. That's why when something 'clouds' your judgment, like anger or alcohol, it makes your thinking unclear and you can't make good choices.