Twelve Angry Men: Act Two

by Reginald Rose
The trial is over, and now the members of the jury hold a man's fate in their hands. Nearly everyone is convinced the defendant is guilty—everyone except Juror 8. He tries to convince the other jurors to acknowledge their preconceptions and examine the case with fresh eyes.

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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. intellectual
    a person who uses the mind creatively
    10TH JUROR: Details! You’re just letting yourself get bulldozed by a bunch’a what d’ya call ’em—intellectuals.
  2. excitable
    responding quickly with strong emotion or agitation
    3RD JUROR: Listen, that business before, you know, where that guy was baiting me. I mean, that doesn’t prove anything. Listen, I’m a very excitable person, y’know.
  3. reasonable doubt
    uncertainty a juror has about a criminal defendant’s guilt
    11TH JUROR: Pardon. Maybe you don’t fully understand the term “reasonable doubt.”
  4. arrogant
    having or showing feelings of unwarranted importance
    5TH JUROR [to the 7TH JUROR]: You mean you’re calling him arrogant because he wasn’t born here? Well, I’m calling you arrogant because you were. How’s that?
  5. alibi
    proof that someone accused of a crime could not have done it
    It was the only alibi the boy offered and he himself couldn’t back it up with any details at all.
  6. interrogate
    pose a series of questions to
    I’ll take the testimony of the policeman who interrogated him right after the murder, when he couldn’t remember a thing about the movies, great emotional stress or not.
  7. infallible
    incapable of failure or error
    Being accused of murder isn’t necessarily supposed to give him an infallible memory.
  8. psychiatrist
    a specialist in the treatment of mental disorders
    10TH JUROR: I wouldn’t give you a nickel for a psychiatrist’s testimony.
  9. tendency
    an inclination to do something
    FOREMAN: What I was gonna say was, the psychiatrist definitely stated that the boy had strong homicidal tendencies.
  10. potential
    the inherent capacity for coming into being
    In discussing such a thing as the murder potential we should remember that many of us are capable of committing murder.
  11. gall
    the trait of being rude and impertinent
    Where the hell do you get the gall...?
  12. prejudice
    a partiality preventing objective consideration of an issue
    8TH JUROR: It’s very hard to keep personal prejudice out of a thing like this. And no matter where you run into it, prejudice obscures the truth.
  13. obscure
    make unclear or less visible
    8TH JUROR: It’s very hard to keep personal prejudice out of a thing like this. And no matter where you run into it, prejudice obscures the truth.
  14. acquittal
    a judgment of not guilty
    4TH JUROR: Frankly, I don’t see how we can vote for acquittal.
  15. intimidate
    compel or deter by or as if by threats
    You’re not goin’ to intimidate me.
Created on Wed Sep 23 16:44:19 EDT 2015 (updated Tue Jun 02 19:17:13 EDT 2026)

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