case

1. 1

   An actual event, situation, or fact.

   • For a change, in this case, he was telling the truth.
   • It is not the case that every unfamiliar phrase is an idiom.
2. 2

   A given condition or state.archaic

   • Thus vvhilſt he hopt he hild her leaſt, ſo altereth the cace / VVith ſuch as ſhe, Ah ſuch it is to build on ſuch a face.
   • Ne wist he how to turne, nor to what place: / Was never wretched man in such a wofull cace.
3. 3

   A specific matter or piece of work, specifically defined within a profession, usually in respect of a specific person and/or event; the set of tasks involved in addressing one such matter.

   • It was one of the detective's easiest cases.
   • Social workers should work on a maximum of forty active cases.
4. 4

   An instance or event as a topic of study.

   • The teaching consists of theory lessons and case studies.
5. 5

   A legal proceeding; a lawsuit or prosecution.

   • “Two or three months more went by ; the public were eagerly awaiting the arrival of this semi-exotic claimant to an English peerage, and sensations, surpassing those of the Tichbourne case, were looked forward to with palpitating interest.
   • As the conflict has dragged on, prosecutors in Ukraine are now pursuing 247 cases of environmental war crimes against Russia in Ukrainian courts and the International Criminal Court, according to reporting published in April by the New York
6. 6

   A specific inflection of a word (particularly a noun, pronoun, or adjective) depending on its function in the sentence.

   • The accusative case most commonly indicates a direct object.
   • Latin has six cases, and remnants of a seventh.
7. 7

   Grammatical cases and their meanings taken either as a topic in general or within a specific language.uncountable

   • Jane has been studying case in Caucasian languages.
   • Latin is a language that employs case.
8. 8

   An instance of a specific condition or set of symptoms.

   • There were another five cases reported overnight.
9. 9

   A section of code representing one of the actions of a conditional switch.

   • Place a break statement at the end of every case to prevent case fall-through.
   • Execution does not automatically stop at the next case.
10. 10

    A love affair.archaic

    • Poor fellow, just as I thought! It's a case with him, anybody can see that. He is thinking about Christine, for a certainty. Lovers always take to stargazing and moonlight dreaming — it's part of their complaint.
    • I thought it only an amourette when you told me. It was a fire — a conflagration; subdue it. I saw it was a case, and I advised you to try — dissipation.

syn. befall · grammatical case

ant. noncase

1. 1

   To propose hypothetical cases.intransitiveobsolete

   • Casing upon the Matter.

1. 1

   A box that contains or can contain a number of identical items of manufacture or commerce.

   • When the ship reached Melbourne two days later we collared a couple of cases of apples from the hold and hid them in our bunks.
2. 2

   A box, sheath, or covering generally.

   • a case for spectacles; the case of a watch
3. 3

   A piece of luggage that can be used to transport an apparatus such as a sewing machine.

4. 4

   An enclosing frame or casing.

   • a door case; a window case
5. 5

   A suitcase.

6. 6

   A piece of furniture, constructed partially of transparent glass or plastic, within which items can be displayed.

7. 7

   The outer covering or framework of a piece of apparatus such as a computer.

8. 8

   A shallow tray divided into compartments or "boxes" for holding type, traditionally arranged in sets of two, the "upper case" (containing capitals, small capitals, accented) and "lower case" (small letters, figures, punctuation marks, quadrats, and spaces).historical

9. 9

   The nature of a piece of alphabetic type, whether a "capital" (upper case) or "small" (lower case) letter.broadly

10. 10

    Four of a kind.slang

1. 1

   The last remaining card of a particular rank.not-comparableslang

   • He drew the case eight!

1. 1

   To place (an item or items of manufacture) into a box, as in preparation for shipment.transitive

2. 2

   To cover or protect with, or as if with, a case; to enclose.transitive

   • The man who, cased in steel, had passed whole days and nights in the saddle.
3. 3

   To survey (a building or other location) surreptitiously, as in preparation for a robbery.informaltransitive

   • Bonnie worked as a daycare director. She helped case the FBI office by posing as a college student interested in becoming an FBI agent.