litigate

verb

lit·i·gate | \ ˈli-tə-ˌgāt

litigated; litigating

Definition of litigate

: 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 archaic : dispute

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

Other Words from litigate More Example Sentences Learn More about litigate

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Other Words from litigate

litigable \ ˈli-ti-gə-bəl

\ adjective

litigation \ ˌli-tə-ˈgā-shən

\ noun

litigator \ ˈli-tə-ˌgā-tər

\ noun

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

First, in Zelman v. Simmons-Harris (2002), litigated by the Institute for Justice, the justices held that school-voucher programs that include religious options don’t violate the Constitution. — Tim Keller And, WSJ, "Two New Lawsuits Seek to Stop Discrimination Against Religion," 20 Aug. 2018 While Flake has been litigating his confused feelings publicly, the others in the group have been quieter. — Dylan Scott, Vox, "The Senate bloc that could decide Kavanaugh’s Supreme Court confirmation," 3 Oct. 2018 WASHINGTON—Wall Street’s top regulator pushed the pause button on cases being litigated through its in-house courts one day after suffering a defeat at the Supreme Court. — Dave Michaels, WSJ, "SEC Halts In-House Cases After Defeat at Supreme Court," 22 June 2018 Berman said the issue would be litigated extensively and would have to be definitively decided by the U.S. Supreme Court. — Darlene Superville, chicagotribune.com, "Trump opioid plan includes death penalty for traffickers," 19 Mar. 2018 New internet speech laws would be fiercely litigated, with First Amendment claims from both private companies and individual speakers. — Emily Stewart, Vox, "Trump keeps complaining about bias on Twitter — but what can he do about it? 8 experts weigh in.," 23 Aug. 2018 Some women come who are already litigating and have attorneys. — Erin Arvedlund, Philly.com, "Senior splitting from your spouse? 'Collaborative divorce' is a friendlier, cheaper way," 5 July 2018 In this Court's view, a plaintiff that genuinely seeks to invoke its protection rights under the Patent Act would eagerly litigate the validity issue, at least once, so a decision on the merits would emerge. — Cyrus Farivar, Ars Technica, "Notorious patent enforcement entity values its entire portfolio at $2, folds," 1 Nov. 2018 Companies would no longer be able to deduct from their tax liabilities their expenses and attorney fees spent litigating workplace harassment. — Erica Martinson, Anchorage Daily News, "Murkowski proposes a government role in the #MeToo movement," 8 June 2018

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.