ENGLISH
REFERENCE

lawsuit

n. · v.
US //ˈɫɔˌsut// UK //lˈɔːsuːt// law·suit
  1. 1 legal case (n.)
    B2 Upper Intermediate Law

    a formal disagreement that people take to a court of law so a judge can decide who is right.

    a case in civil law where one or more parties bring a dispute before a court for resolution.

    Example

    The company faced a massive lawsuit after their product caused several injuries.

    Example

    The environmental group filed a class-action lawsuit against the manufacturer, alleging that toxic runoff had contaminated the local water supply for decades.

    Usage

    Commonly used with the verbs 'file', 'bring', or 'win'.
  2. 2 to sue (v.)
    C2 Proficiency Archaic Law

    to start a legal case against someone.

    to initiate or pursue a legal claim against a person or entity in a court of law.

    Example

    In the old story, the merchant threatened to lawsuit his rival over the broken contract.

    Example

    The historical documents reveal an era where individuals would frequently lawsuit one another over minor property boundary disputes.

    Usage

    This verb form is extremely rare in modern English; 'to sue' is the standard equivalent.

    Teacher's tip

    While historically recorded as a verb, modern speakers exclusively use 'sue' for the action and 'lawsuit' for the noun.
Origin

From law + suit.

Word family

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