Definition of case
1 a
: a set of circumstances or conditions
- is the statement true in all three cases
b (1)
: a situation requiring investigation or action (as by the police)
- Her disappearance is a case for the police.
(2)
: the object of investigation or consideration
- The child's case was turned over to state authorities.
2
: condition;
specifically
: condition of body or mind
3
[Middle English cas, from Anglo-French, from Latin casus, translation of Greek ptōsis, literally, fall]
a
: an inflectional form of a noun, pronoun, or adjective indicating its grammatical relation to other words
- the possessive case
b
: such a relation whether indicated by inflection or not
4
: what actually exists or happens : fact
- thought he had failed, but that wasn't the case
5 a
: a suit or action in law or equity
- a criminal case
- a civil case
b (1)
: the evidence supporting a conclusion or judgment
(2)
: argument;
especially
: a convincing argument
- makes a good case for adopting the proposal
6 a
: an instance of disease or injury
- a case of pneumonia
- Dr. Berg's cases
b
: an instance that directs attention to a situation or exhibits it in action : example
c
: a peculiar person : character
- The gangsters were hard cases.
7
: oneself considered as an object of harassment or criticism
- get off my case
—
in any case
: without regard to or in spite of other considerations : whatever else is done or is the case
- war is inevitable in any case
- in any case the report will be made public next month
—
in case
: as a precaution
- took an umbrella, just in case
—
in case of
: in the event of
- in case of trouble, yell
