jury

¹ American  

[joor-ee] / ˈdʒʊər i /

noun

• juries
  plural

1. a group of persons sworn to render a verdict or true answer on a question or questions officially submitted to them.

2. such a group selected according to law and sworn to inquire into or determine the facts concerning a cause or an accusation submitted to them and to render a verdict to a court.

3. a group of persons chosen to adjudge prizes, awards, etc., as in a competition.

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verb (used with object)

juried, jurying

1. to judge or evaluate by means of a jury.

   All entries will be juried by a panel of professionals.

idioms

1. the jury is (still) out, a decision, determination, or opinion has yet to be rendered.

   The jury is still out on the president's performance.

jury ² American  

[joor-ee] / ˈdʒʊər i /

adjective

Nautical.

1. makeshift or temporary, as for an emergency.

   a jury mast.

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jury ¹ British  

/ ˈdʒʊərɪ /

noun

1. a group of, usually twelve, people sworn to deliver a true verdict according to the evidence upon a case presented in a court of law See also grand jury petit jury

2. a body of persons appointed to judge a competition and award prizes

3. informal it has not yet been decided or agreed on

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jury ² British  

/ ˈdʒʊərɪ /

adjective

1. nautical (in combination) makeshift

   jury-rigged

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Grammar

See collective noun.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• juryless
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• juries
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of jury¹

1250–1300; Middle English jurie, juree, < Old French juree oath, juridical inquiry, noun use of juree, feminine past participle of jurer to swear; cf. jurat

Origin of jury²

1610–20; compare jury mast (early 17th century), of obscure origin; perhaps to be identified with late Middle English i ( u ) were help, aid, aphetic form of Old French ajurie, derivative of aidier to aid, with -rie -ry

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Explanation

A jury is a group that decides a contest or a court case together. If you get summoned for jury duty and get picked as one of the 12 members of the jury, you’ll help decide if someone is guilty or not. A jury is any group that makes a group decision. In the County Fair, the stakes aren't so high — just respect for your baking skills or pig-raising talents. But many juries are convened by courts to decide whether someone is innocent or guilty. In this case, the jury is sworn to act according to the law. Jury comes from the Old French word for "oath," pointing to the promise to deliver the truth that a jury swears to.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

jury juries juried jurying

The verdicts came on Thursday after the jury had been deliberating for eight hours and 30 minutes.

From BBC ● Nov. 5, 2026

The jury reached its verdict after two days of deliberation.

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 5, 2026

Between Brand and the judge, sat two sets of lawyers with the jury sitting immediately to the right of the judge.

From BBC ● Nov. 5, 2026

The competing accounts opened the retrial of Jonathan Rinderknecht, after his first jury in June deadlocked 10 to 2 in favor of acquittal.

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 4, 2026

In fact, twenty years after the civil rights revolution, the jury remained an institution largely unchanged by the legal requirements of racial integration and diversity.

From "Just Mercy" by Bryan Stevenson

Like juries, Finra arbitration panels can occasionally award punitive damages that sound outlandish even in an overly litigious society.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 23, 2026

In the US legal system, prosecutors convene grand juries to weigh evidence and testimony and eventually vote on whether they merit criminal charges.

From BBC ● Sep. 28, 2026

These are questions that get resolved by juries every day.

From Slate ● Sep. 22, 2026

Witnesses at the blink-and-you-miss-it Oakland trial echoed much of what had already been heard this year by juries in Los Angeles, Santa Fe and Nashville.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 29, 2026

During the Reconstruction era, African Americans began to serve on juries in the South for the first time.

From "The New Jim Crow" by Michelle Alexander

And yet, at the Toronto International Film Festival this month, this quiet film won the Platform Prize, a major juried award.

From BBC ● Sep. 24, 2026

The company introduced a beta version of its digital registry in August at the Santa Fe Indian Market, an annual juried event.

From New York Times ● Nov. 21, 2022

If summer travel woes have dampened your passion for air travel, “Spirit of Flight,” the Museum of Flight’s juried photography exhibition, may rekindle your travel lust.

From Seattle Times ● Sep. 6, 2022

The environmental and social-justice themes of “Fragile Beauty” are expressed mostly with paint, ink and pixels, but some of the 33 Washington artists in this juried show at the D.C.

From Washington Post ● Jun. 24, 2022

Once the first two crates were completed, I carried them down to the art museum for consideration in their upcoming juried biennial.

From "Me Talk Pretty One Day" by David Sedaris

The totality resembles a juried exhibition that still needs some jurying.

From New York Times ● Jan. 29, 2015

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