litigate

verb

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lit·i·gate | \ ˈli-tə-ˌgāt

litigated; litigating

Definition of litigate

intransitive verb

: to carry on a legal contest by judicial (see judicial sense 1a) process only states can litigate before this court— R. H. Heindel

transitive verb

1 : to decide and settle in a court of law litigate a claim

2 archaic : dispute

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Examples of litigate in a Sentence

They agree to litigate all disputes in this court. The company's unwillingness to make a deal increased her desire to litigate.

Recent Examples on the Web If the wage freeze is found to be invalid, the Biden administration could simply choose not to litigate it further. — Jonah Goldman Kay, The New Republic, "The Lethal Inequality on American Farms," 22 Dec. 2020 The sketch finds Robinson’s character attempting to alternately cajole and litigate a group of angry people into not being angry with him. — Kath Barbadoro, Vulture, "Stupid Times Call for Stupid Jokes," 14 Jan. 2021 The pact includes no new investor protection mechanism that would allow European firms to directly litigate disputes. — Laurence Norman, WSJ, "EU, China Agree on Terms of Investment Pact Despite U.S. Wariness," 30 Dec. 2020 Insurers settle the claims rather than go through the time and expense to litigate them, passing those costs along to other insurance customers and driving auto insurance rates up, advocates said. — David Jacobs, Washington Examiner, "Changes to Louisiana's legal system fail to get state off 'judicial hellhole' list," 10 Dec. 2020 Acting city solicitor Dana Moore said the city would litigate remaining claims. — Washington Post, "Baltimore expected to pay $8 million to settle Gun Trace Task Force lawsuit," 15 Nov. 2020 With the Justice Department filing a case against Google in October and the Federal Trade Commission and state attorneys general filing cases against Facebook last week, this reticence to litigate seems to be shifting. — Matt Perault, WSJ, "Big Tech and Antitrust: A Path Forward," 16 Dec. 2020 The president and his allies have also alleged that the election was rife with fraud and have filed lawsuits in a slew of states in an effort to litigate their way to the White House. — Melissa Quinn, CBS News, "Money raised for Trump's election fights would help cover campaign debt," 9 Nov. 2020 City Solicitor Dana Moore said the city would litigate remaining claims. — Justin Fenton, baltimoresun.com, "Baltimore expected to pay $8 million to settle Gun Trace Task Force lawsuit, eclipsing amount in Freddie Gray case," 13 Nov. 2020

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