A jury of Donald Trump's peers just decided he oughta pay E. Jean Carroll a fortune for defaming her while denying her sexual assault allegation ... tens of millions, in fact.

A verdict was reached Friday in DT's defamation damages trial -- this after he was found liable for defaming her in September ... not to mention an entirely separate civil case, where he was found liable for sexually abusing her way back in the day.

Trump had already been ordered to pay Carroll $5 million in the sexual abuse case -- something he's currently appealing -- and now ... on the defamation front, a jury came back with an astronomical figure, saying DT has to cough up $83.3 million to the woman.

Indeed, it's a massive amount of cash -- something that apparently shocked the courtroom in NYC -- and a lot of it actually comes in the form of punitive damages, the ones meant to teach somebody a lesson.

Trump was ordered to pay about $65 million in punitive damages, and about $18.3 mil in compensatory damages -- otherwise known as actual damages, meaning the harm she says she literally suffered as a result of Trump's statements about her.

It's interesting ... there are two statements, specifically, that Carroll had sued over -- one in which Trump called her story about the alleged sexual assault a "con job" and another in which he said something to the effect of never having met her, which she called a lie.

Carroll's attorneys wanted $12 million in actual damages for each statement -- and in the end, she got about 70% of that. The astounding number, of course, is the $65 mil ... and that itself speaks volumes about how the jury felt in terms of sending a message to the ex-Prez.

It sounds like the jury's recommendation for this huge amount is going to be upheld by the judge -- there was no indication from Lewis Kaplan that he thought it needed to be lowered.

It's being reported that E. Jean was emotional after hearing the number, and earlier in the day -- Trump was said to be furious while leaving court, this after closing arguments.

In terms of how Trump feels about it, he hit Truth Social and called the verdict "absolutely ridiculous!" He added ... "Biden Directed Witch Hunt focused on me and the Republican Party. They have taken away all First Amendment Rights. THIS IS NOT AMERICA!"