empanel
Americanverb (used with object)
verb
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to enter on a list (names of persons to be summoned for jury service)
-
to select (a jury) from the names on such a list
Other Word Forms
Explanation
To empanel is to select a group of people for a jury. If you're empaneled, you're part of a jury. Congratulations. Jury duty is one of those things all adults have to do as members of a democracy — show up in court to possibly be a member of a jury in a trial. When you're added to a jury, you're empaneled. This is an old-fashioned word that comes from an older sense of panel, which was the paper on which names of jury members were written. Lots of people report for jury duty but aren't empaneled, meaning they aren't selected.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
He said he could see no good reason to empanel a jury.
From BBC ● Jan. 14, 2022
The district attorney said he has also asked the president judge to empanel an investigative grand jury “to aid the investigation of the officers’ use of deadly force.”
From Seattle Times ● Sep. 27, 2021
New York Attorney General Letitia James will empanel a grand jury in her investigation into the death Daniel Prude in Rochester, she announced Saturday.
From Fox News ● Sep. 5, 2020
That same year, by contrast, “they adjudicated 16,946 revocations of supervised release, and there is simply no way that the federal courts could empanel enough juries to adjudicate all those proceedings.”
From Slate ● Jun. 26, 2019
According to Hickock, the “hostile atmosphere” in Garden City had made it impossible to empanel an unbiased jury, and therefore a change of venue should have been granted.
From "In Cold Blood" by Truman Capote
The prime specimen here is the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission, which was empaneled under former California Treasurer Phil Angelides to report on the financial meltdown of 2007-2008.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 7, 2026
In a new development, the panel provided emails indicating the Department of Justice had empaneled a grand jury to look into potential crimes related to the origin of COVID-19.
From Science Magazine ● Dec. 4, 2024
Once empaneled, an inquest jury will review the circumstances surrounding the death.
From Seattle Times ● Feb. 22, 2024
That would allow plenty of time for a jury to be empaneled, to hear evidence, and deliver its verdict months before people start voting for president.
From Salon ● Feb. 7, 2024
Her word would stand against that of all of the victims combined before any jury that could be empaneled.
From Constance Dunlap by Arthur B. (Arthur Benjamin) Reeve
States such as Texas and Virginia signed on to the Uniform Act in the 1950s or earlier, and Georgia did not create its process for empaneling a special grand jury until 1974.
From Washington Post ● Nov. 8, 2022
The first coroner’s inquest under King County’s newly revamped process to review police-caused deaths opened Tuesday morning with the empaneling of an eight-person jury and instructions from the administrator overseeing the proceedings.
From Seattle Times ● Mar. 15, 2022
Seven officers involved in the encounter with Mr. Prude, including Officer Vaughn, have now been suspended, and the state attorney general has announced she is empaneling a grand jury to review evidence in the death.
From New York Times ● Sep. 15, 2020
Further, although the supervisory powers of the empaneling judge are limited, grand juries depend on court subpoenas to compel the appearance of witnesses and the production of material evidence.
From Slate ● Dec. 10, 2018
Then came the wearisome technicalities of the empaneling of a jury, with challenges for cause and peremptory challenges, until nearly the entire panel of fifty jurors was exhausted.
From The Eye of Dread by Payne Erskine
“From the moment you were empanelled over a month ago the burden was going to be greater than most.”
From The Guardian ● Feb. 26, 2019
There is also the question of whether a jury would have to be empanelled to hear and decide Malvo’s sentencing again.
From Washington Post ● Jun. 9, 2017
"She has been provisionally suspended from competition awaiting the outcome of a disciplinary panel that will be empanelled to hear this case."
From Reuters ● Jun. 18, 2013
Citing the perceived risk of reprisals for a guilty verdict, Leinenweber in March ordered the jury empanelled anonymously.
From BusinessWeek ● May 18, 2011
He was himself firmly persuaded that the jury empanelled in his case was a packed one.
From The Story of the Upper Canada Rebellion by John Charles Dent
The jury reached its decision after two days of deliberations in a trial that began with their empanelling on May 16.
From BusinessWeek ● Jun. 10, 2011
The work of empanelling a jury commenced, and when it was completed Mr. Walters, K.C., opened the case for the prosecution.
From The Hampstead Mystery by John R. (John Reay) Watson
"Without empanelling a jury we have submitted the volume to a duly-qualified juror, and are therefore competent to pronounce it a very practical, satisfactory, and useful work."
From Notable Women Authors of the Day Biographical Sketches by Helen C. Black
The matter was prolonged into September—there was difficulty in empanelling an unbiassed jury because of the moral sentiments involved.
From The Beautiful and Damned by F. Scott (Francis Scott) Fitzgerald
No empanelling of juries to inquire into theft, arson, murder, slander, and black-mail.
From The Abominations of Modern Society by T. De Witt (Thomas De Witt) Talmage
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
