empanel
Americanverb (used with object)
verb
-
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.
Belton said the federal investigation continues but he’s been released from his promise to stand down and plans to request a court to empanel a special grand jury to look into Greene’s death.
From Seattle Times • Apr. 8, 2022
He said he could see no good reason to empanel a jury.
From BBC • Jan. 14, 2022
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
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.
