Voir Dire

Jury selection process of questioning prospective jurors, to ascertain their qualifications and determine any basis for challenge.

Additional Sources

Answers.com

A preliminary examination of prospective jurors or witnesses under oath to determine their competence or suitability.

Encyclopedia Britannica

The process of questioning by which members of a jury are selected from a large panel, or venire, of prospective jurors. The veniremen are questioned by the judge or by the attorneys for the respective parties. The voir dire attempts to detect bias or preconceived notions of guilt or innocence on the part of the veniremen. The parties, including the prosecution in a criminal case, may challenge potential jurors and dismiss an unlimited number for cause. They also have a limited number of peremptory challenges, which enable them to dismiss a juror without giving a reason.

FindLaw

The act or process of questioning prospective jurors to determine which are qualified and suited for service on a jury

Lect Law Library

When a witness is supposed to have an interest in the cause, the party against whom he is called has the choice to prove such interest by calling another witness to that fact, or be may require the witness produced to be sworn on his voir dire as to whether he has an interest in the cause, or not, but the party against whom he is called will not be allowed to have recourse to both methods to prove the witness interest. If the witness answers he has no interest, he is competent, his oath being conclusive; if he swears he has an interest, he will be rejected.

Legal-Dictionary.org

The process by which attorneys and/or judges exam potential jurors to see if they are competent to sit on a jury. Having a conflict of interest with one of the parties to a lawsuit, for example, would preclude you from sitting on the jury for that litigation.

The Free (Legal) Dictionary

Voir dire consists of oral questions asked of prospective jurors by the judge, the parties, or the attorneys, or some combination thereof. This oral questioning, often supplemented by a prior written questionnaire, is used to determine whether a potential juror is biased, knows any of the parties, counsel, or witnesses, or should otherwise be excluded from jury duty. Voir dire is a tool used to achieve the constitutional right to an impartial jury, but it is not a constitutional right in itself.