case study

noun

Definition of case study

1 : an intensive analysis of an individual unit (such as a person or community) stressing developmental factors in relation to environment

2 : case history

Examples of case study in a Sentence

a case study of prisoners The company's recent history is a case study in bad management.

Recent Examples on the Web

The first week of Brown’s life in New England is a case study in Fanboy 101. — BostonGlobe.com, "Have the Patriots not learned anything by now? - The Boston Globe," 14 Sep. 2019 From the start, Kasie (Tiffany Chu) is a compelling case study in how traditional patriarchal affection can warp a daughter’s expectations of the adult masculine world. — Robert Abele, Los Angeles Times, "Review: Justin Chon’s Koreatown-set ‘Ms. Purple’ relies heavily on mood," 4 Sep. 2019 Everything the show wants to communicate is already there in the characters, each one a case study in who wins and loses in this country. — Judy Berman, Time, "On Becoming a God in Central Florida," 20 Aug. 2019 The career of Doug Flutie, a five-foot-ten quarterback taken in the eleventh round in 1985, is a case study in such distrust. — Rich Cohen, Harper's magazine, "The Wood Chipper," 19 Aug. 2019 In the near-decade since, Thompson has been a case study in durability, playing more NBA games than anyone other than center DeAndre Jordan. — Connor Letourneau, SFChronicle.com, "Alec Burks looks to maximize opportunity with Warriors," 12 July 2019 Ultimately, this book is a case study in how the party has managed to keep itself in power, and how the current leadership functions. — Ian Johnson, The New York Review of Books, "China’s ‘Black Week-end’," 17 June 2019 Rather, as the IEA report implies, Merkel’s Energiewende is a case study in how not to manage economic and environmental trade-offs, a cautionary tale whose lessons the United States should heed. — Charles Lane, Twin Cities, "Charles Lane: If Germany wants to achieve climate neutrality, it needs nuclear power," 5 June 2019 To Sofia Faruqi, a forest economist with WRI, California’s pine monocultures are a case study in the problems with a one-size-fits-all approach to forestry. — Ian Willms, National Geographic, "Tree-planting programs can do more harm than good," 26 Apr. 2019

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'case study.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

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Last Updated

20 Sep 2019

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The first known use of case study was in 1914

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More Definitions for case study

case study

noun

English Language Learners Definition of case study

: a published report about a person, group, or situation that has been studied over time also : a situation in real life that can be looked at or studied to learn about something

See the full definition for case study in the English Language Learners Dictionary

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