Word.ws English Dictionary

indict a ham sandwich

Syllables: in·dict a ham sand·wich/ɪnˈdaɪt‿ə ˌhæm ˈsændwɪt͡ʃ/

indict a ham sandwich verb: of a grand jury: to charge a person with a crime, despite a perceived lack of evidence.

Verb

indict a ham sandwich (third-person singular simple present indicts a ham sandwich, present participle indicting a ham sandwich, simple past and past participle indicted a ham sandwich)

  1. (US, excessive, humorous, idiomatic, intransitive, criminal law) Of a grand jury: to charge a person with a crime, despite a perceived lack of evidence.
    • Advocates of the grand jury say it is the only shield in the criminal justice system between police and prosecutors and the accused. […] But critics say the grand jury doesn't shield anybody because the prosecutor runs the show. "The district attorney could get a grand jury to indict a ham sandwich...1979 September 2, Nancy Monaghan, “Grand jury system—justice behind closed doors”, in Democrat and Chronicle, Rochester, N.Y.: Gannett Co., →ISSN, →OCLC, page 1, columns 1–2
    • In a bid to make prosecutors more accountable for their actions, Chief Justice Sol Wachtler has proposed that the state scrap the grand jury system of bringing criminal indictments. Wachtler, who became the state's top judge earlier this month, said district attorneys now have so much influence on...1985 February 1, Marcia Kramer, Frank Lombardi, “Top judge: Abolish grand juries”, in New York Daily News, Jersey City, N.J.: Daily News Enterprises, →ISSN, →OCLC, page C4, column 1

Examples of indict a ham sandwich in a sentence

  • "The district attorney could get a grand jury to indict a ham sandwich if he wanted to," one Rochester defense lawyer said.1979 September 2, Nancy Monaghan, “Grand jury system—justice behind closed doors”, in Democrat and Chronicle, Rochester, N.Y.: Gannett Co....
  • Wachtler, who became the state's top judge earlier this month, said district attorneys now have so much influence on grand juries that "by and large" they could get them to "indict a ham sandwich."1985 February 1, Marcia Kramer, Frank Lombardi, “Top judge: Abolish grand juries”, in New York Daily News, Jersey City, N.J.: Daily News...
  • Everybody knows that a grand jury can indict a ham sandwich if that's all they see."2022 April 14, Ariana Garcia, quoting Lina Hidalgo, “Harris Co. Judge Lina Hidalgo on Staff Indictments: 'A Grand Jury can ‘Indict a Ham...

Forms of indict a ham sandwich

third-person singular presentindicts a ham sandwich
present participleindicting a ham sandwich
past participleindicted a ham sandwich
pastindicted a ham sandwich

Origin of indict a ham sandwich

Possibly alluding to ham sandwich (“something utterly commonplace, of modest value”). The term was popularized by the American jurist Sol Wachtler (born 1930) who used it in 1985 shortly after his appointment as Chief Judge of the New York Court of Appeals when expressing the view that the use of grand juries to bring indictments should be abolished: see the quotation from 1985.

Questions about indict a ham sandwich

What does indict a ham sandwich mean?
Indict a ham sandwich means of a grand jury: to charge a person with a crime, despite a perceived lack of evidence.
How do you use indict a ham sandwich in a sentence?
"The district attorney could get a grand jury to indict a ham sandwich if he wanted to," one Rochester defense lawyer said.
What part of speech is indict a ham sandwich?
Indict a ham sandwich is a verb.
How do you pronounce indict a ham sandwich?
Indict a ham sandwich is pronounced /ɪnˈdaɪt‿ə ˌhæm ˈsændwɪt͡ʃ/ (UK).
What is the past tense of indict a ham sandwich?
The past tense of indict a ham sandwich is indicted a ham sandwich.

Words near indict a ham sandwich in the dictionary

  1. indicolactone
  2. indicolite
  3. indicolites
  4. indicoside
  5. indict
  6. indict a ham sandwich
  7. indictability
  8. indictable
  9. indictable offence
  10. indictable offences
  11. indictably

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: indict a ham sandwich (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-indict a ham sandwich.wav, LL-Q1860 (eng)-Naomi Persephone Amethyst (NaomiAmethyst)-indict a ham sandwich.wav.

Cite this entry: “indict a ham sandwich.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/indict_a_ham_sandwich. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.