grand jury

noun

: a jury that examines accusations against persons charged with crime and if the evidence warrants makes formal charges (as by indictment)

grand juror noun

Examples of grand jury in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Hadder was indicted by a grand jury on two counts of assault. —Rob Picheta, CNN Money, 7 Feb. 2026

Also on Thursday, Garza's office announced a Travis County special grand jury had cleared four Austin police officers of wrongdoing in a November 2024 on-duty shooting. —Austin Sanders, Austin American Statesman, 6 Feb. 2026

Francisco Jesus Mena was indicted by a federal grand jury on ten counts of threatening a federal official, the release said. —Suryatapa Chakraborty, Dallas Morning News, 6 Feb. 2026

As the saying goes, a grand jury will indict a ham sandwich. —Anna Kaufman, USA Today, 6 Feb. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

15th century, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for grand jury

• buri
• fury

Kids Definition

grand jury

noun

: a jury that chiefly examines accusations of crime made against persons and if the evidence warrants makes formal charges on which the accused persons are later tried

Legal Definition

grand jury

noun

: a jury that examines accusations against persons charged with crime and if the evidence warrants makes formal charges on which the accused persons are later tried see also no bill and true bill at bill sense 3b, indictment compare petit jury, special grand jury