district court

noun

: a trial court that has jurisdiction over certain cases within a specific judicial district

Examples of district court in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

After graduating from law school, Ellis began her career as a staff attorney at the Federal Defender Program in Chicago, according to the district court. —Dalia Faheid, CNN Money, 4 Nov. 2025

In its petition to the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals, the DOJ accused the district court of exceeding its powers and asked the appeals court to immediately pause the order and consider revoking it. —Armando Garcia, ABC News, 29 Oct. 2025

Lawyers for the government say the district court does not have the authority to hear personnel challenges. —Nick Lichtenberg, Fortune, 28 Oct. 2025

When the federal government appealed the district court’s ruling, the Fifth Circuit upheld the decision, citing the Supreme Court’s 2022 ruling in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association, Inc. —Solcyré Burga, Time, 27 Oct. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1731, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for district court

• heliport
• nonsupport
• reexport
• teleport
• ultrashort
• abort
• airport
• alport
• athwart
• carport
• comport
• consort

Legal Definition

district court

noun

often capitalized D&C

: a trial court having general or limited jurisdiction in a judicial district: as

a

: one of the federal trial courts sitting in a federal district

b

: a trial court within a state court system