Meaning of case in English

case

noun

/keɪs/ us

/keɪs/

case noun (SITUATION)

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B1 [ C ]

a particular situation or example of something:

extreme case She was suffering from an extreme case of sunburn.

in each case We have lots of applications from people who want to study here, and in each case we consider the candidate very carefully.

Over a hundred people were injured, in several cases seriously.

in someone's case Jobs are hard to find, but in his case that's not the problem because he has so much experience.

in this case I wouldn't normally agree, but I'll make an exception in this case.

The number of new cases of the illness appears to be declining.

See also

borderline case

edge case

in that case

because of the mentioned situation:

There's no coffee left? In that case I'll have tea.

(not) the case

(not) true:

If that is the case then I will be very disappointed.

in any case

also:

I don't want to go and in any case, I haven't been invited.

(just) in case

because of a possibility of something happening, being needed, etc.:

I don't think I'll need any money but I'll bring some just in case.

in case of something formal

if something happens, or in preparation for when something happens:

The camping area has ready access to water, in case of fire.

in the case of someone/something

in connection with someone or something, or in the situation of something:

The law will apply equally to men and women except in the case of maternity leave.

a case of something

used when a situation is of a particular type:

She doesn't want to work full-time - it's a case of having to.

a case in point (also case in point)

an example that shows that what you are saying is true or helps to explain why you are saying it:

Lack of communication causes serious problems and their marriage is a case in point.

as is the case

in the same way that it happens:

As is often the case with children, Amy was completely better by the time they gave us a doctor's appointment.

as the case may be (also as the case might be, whatever the case may be, whatever the case might be)

whichever one of the stated possibilities is true:

Feel free to send me a message and let me know what went well or badly, as the case may be.

More examplesFewer examples

We don't usually accept late applications, but in this case we will make an exception.
The newspaper photo apparently showed him in Rome but it was a case of mistaken identity.
He may possibly decide not to come, in which case there's no problem.
In special cases the manager will stretch the rules .

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Samples and examples

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Situations and circumstances

case noun (PROBLEM)

B2 [ C ]

a problem, a series of events, or a person being dealt with by police, doctors, lawyers, etc.:

on the case The detective on the case (= responsible for solving it) has been suspended from duty.

Several social workers have looked into the child's case.

The doctor's most difficult case of the day concerns a man with multiple serious health conditions.

See also

basket case

hopeless case

B2 [ C ]

a matter to be decided by a judge in a law court:

a murder case

The case will go before the European Court next month.

She accused her employer of unlawful dismissal and won/lost her case.

See also

federal case

test case

More examplesFewer examples

He has been cited as the co-respondent in the divorce case.
The court's decision on this case will turn the clock back 50 years.
The lack of evidence means that the case is unlikely to go to court.
The jury took five days to deliberate on the case.
His lawyers have decided not to proceed with the case.

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Medical treatment: people who receive medical treatment

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Court cases, orders & decisions

Detection & solving crimes

case noun (CONTAINER)

A2 [ C ]

a container or box for storing something in:

The telescope comes with a case.

She took her violin out of its case.

The flag is on display inside a glass case.

See also

bookcase
briefcase
pencil case
pillowcase

a large, rectangular container with a handle, for carrying clothes and possessions while travelling:

Will you bring your cases out to the car?

He went upstairs to pack his case.

Synonym

suitcase

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a box holding twelve or more bottles of wine or another type of drink, or the bottles and their contents:

He bought his brother a case of wine for his birthday.

Can you get some more lemonade? We've drunk the whole case.

More examplesFewer examples

The crown, decorated with diamonds and other precious stones, was exhibited in a special case.
Inside the small wooden case is a gold-chain necklace.
Don't forget to put the thermometer back in its case.
I emptied the closet and put my belongings into the black overnight case.
"Can you lift this case?" "It depends on how heavy it is."
I've lashed your case to the roof rack.
The boys brought a few cases of beer.

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General and miscellaneous containers

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Containers for carrying personal possessions

case noun (ARGUMENT)

C2 [ S ]

arguments, facts, and reasons in support of or against something:

There's a good case for/against bringing in new regulations.

The case against cigarette advertising is becoming stronger all the time.

She's very busy so don't overstate the case - just give her the facts.

More examplesFewer examples

The case against her was circumstantial.
You can argue the case either way.
The shareholders seem to think that the executive board is overstating the case for a merger.
They paid a high-powered attorney to plead their case .
Once again he tried to press his case for promotion.

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Reasons and explanations

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case noun (GRAMMAR)

[ C or U ] language specialized

(also grammatical case)

in some languages, any of the various forms of a noun, pronoun, or adjective that show the work it does in a sentence, for example by a special word ending:

The definite article is not standard before a noun in the vocative case.

"He" and "him" express different grammatical cases.

Cases can evolve as a language evolves (for instance, in Ancient Greek, the locative case merged with the dative case).

See also

ablative
accusative
dative
genitive
locative
nominative
vocative

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Linguistics: grammatical terms

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case noun (WRITING)

[ C or U ] specialized

each of the two forms, capital or small, in which a letter of the alphabet may be written or printed:

upper-case/lower-case letters

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Publishing: printing & word processing

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Lettering & alphabets

Punctuation

Grammar

In case (of)

In case is a conjunction or adverb. In case of is a preposition. …

Idioms

be on the case
get off someone's case
get on someone's case
make a case for something

case

verb

slang

/keɪs/ us

/keɪs/

case the joint

to look at a place with the intention of stealing from it later:

He looked around shiftily, as if he was casing the joint.

(Definition of case from the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary & Thesaurus © Cambridge University Press)

case | American Dictionary

case

noun [ C ]

/keɪs/

case noun [C] (SITUATION)

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a particular situation or example of something:

We don’t normally accept credits from courses taken at another university, but we’ll make an exception in your case.

It was a case of not knowing what to say.

She said I refused to answer the question, but that is not the case (= that is not accurate).

in case

In case means if something else should happen:

I think we should leave a little early, in case there’s a lot of traffic.

in case of something

In case of something means if something should happen, esp. something unusual or unexpected:

In case of fire, go immediately to the nearest emergency exit.

case noun [C] (PROBLEM)

an item or particular matter that is being dealt with as a problem to be solved, or a person considered in this way:

Your skin problem may be a mild case of eczema.

He is a sad case – out of work and with few friends to help him.

case noun [C] (ARGUMENT)

arguments, facts, and reasons in support of or against something:

He presented the case against cutting the military budget.

law In a court of law, a case is a matter to be decided by a judge or jury (= group of people):

She claimed the city’s negligence caused her accident, but she lost the case.

case noun [C] (CONTAINER)

a container used for protecting or storing things:

an eyeglass case

a case of seltzer

case noun [C] (GRAMMAR)

grammar

the form a noun, pronoun, or adjective takes depending on its relationship to other words in a sentence:

The possessive case of a noun is usually formed with the ending -’s.

(Definition of case from the Cambridge Academic Content Dictionary © Cambridge University Press)

case | Business English

case

noun [ C ]

/keɪs/ us

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a container or box for storing, showing, or carrying something:

The store had a display case full of antique jewellery.

The laptop is sold with a padded carrying case.

packing cases

a box holding twelve bottles of wine or another type of alcoholic drink, or the twelve bottles and their contents:

a case of beer/wine

There is a 5% discount if you buy a case.

arguments and reasons why something is right or wrong, should or should not be done, etc.:

a case for/against sth There's a good case for bringing in new regulations.

make/argue a case The study makes the case for increasing flexible working.

a good/strong case The union believes it has been vindicated and has a very strong case.

LAW

a matter to be decided by a judge in a court of law:

a libel/fraud/discrimination case

win/lose a case She accused her employer of unlawful dismissal and won her case.

settle/drop a case The parties agreed to settle the case on the basis of the carrier's limitation fund.

Examples of case

case

There were 10 cases of schizophrenia in the first five-year sample (1881-1885) and 11 in the last (1888-1902).

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Then there is the special case of the opera's nominal hero.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

In this case, there exist at least one equilibrium and at most three equilibria.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

We define this case as the benchmark model.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

They occur preconsonantally in 42% of the cases.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

We are going to show that this case is not possible.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

In such cases they are not response tokens.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

We found that for 7 of the 100 examples, this was the case.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

With this convention, types are special cases of type schemes.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

In the first case, there is a pair of retracts.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

We show that this is not the case.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

In this way, we return to the previous case.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

All other cases covered the years 1961-90.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

I am not so sure that this is always the case.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

E, as must be the case by construction.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

See all examples of case

These examples are from corpora and from sources on the web. Any opinions in the examples do not represent the opinion of the Cambridge Dictionary editors or of Cambridge University Press or its licensors.

Collocations with case

case

These are words often used in combination with case.

Click on a collocation to see more examples of it.

asylum case

The asylum case gives indeed some interesting examples of problematic transplants.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

bankruptcy case

The review will encompass all relevant legislative provisions and bankruptcy case law impacting on the rights to a bankrupt's pension.

From the

Hansard archive

Example from the Hansard archive. Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0

borderline case

The judge can exhibit similar candor if he instead believes that the procedural infraction freed a borderline case of a guilty man.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

See all collocations with case

What is the pronunciation of case?

Translations of case

in Chinese (Traditional)

情況, 具體情況, 實例…

in Chinese (Simplified)

情况, 具体情况, 实例…

in Spanish

caso, estuche, maleta…

in Portuguese

caso, causa, processo…

in more languages

in Marathi

in Japanese

in Turkish

in French

in Catalan

in Dutch

in Tamil

in Hindi

in Gujarati

in Danish

in Swedish

in Malay

in German

in Norwegian

in Urdu

in Ukrainian

in Telugu

in Bengali

in Czech

in Indonesian

in Thai

in Vietnamese

in Polish

in Korean

in Italian

एखादी विशिष्ट परिस्थिती किंवा एखाद्या गोष्टीचे उदाहरण, समस्या, घटनांची साखळी…

スーツケース, 箱, ケース…

durum, hal, vaziyet…

cas [masculine], affaire [feminine], procès [masculine]…

maleta, estoig, cas…

geval, zaak, reden…

ஏதாவது ஒரு குறிப்பிட்ட சூழ்நிலை அல்லது உதாரணம், ஒரு பிரச்சனை/வழக்கு, தொடர்ச்சியான நிகழ்வுகள் அல்லது காவல்துறை…

मामला, घटना, एक विशेष स्तिथि या किसी चीज़ का उदहारण…

બનાવ, કિસ્સો, કેસ…

tilfælde, eksempel, sag…

fall, [rätts]fall, mål…

kes, situasi, perbicaraan mahkamah…

der Fall, der Kasten, die Kiste…

tilfelle [neuter], sak [masculine], beviser [neuter…

معاملہ, کیفیت, واقعہ…

випадок, обставина, справа…

ఒక నిర్ధిష్ట పరిస్థితి లేక ఒక దాని ఉదాహరణ, కేసు, సమస్యల లేక సంఘటనల సమాహారం…

একটি নির্দিষ্ট পরিস্থিতি বা কিছুর উদাহরণ, সমস্যা, মামলা…

případ, proces, důvod…

contoh, situasi, perkara…

กรณีศึกษา, เหตุการณ์, คดีความ…

trường hợp, tình hình, vụ kiện…

przypadek, sprawa, argumenty…

여행용 가방, 통, 경우…

valigia, astuccio, cofanetto…

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Cascadia

cascading

cascading style sheet

cascara sagrada

case

case history

case law

case rate discount

case stated

Meaning of case in English

case noun (SITUATION)

case noun (PROBLEM)

case noun (CONTAINER)

case noun (ARGUMENT)

case noun (GRAMMAR)

case noun (WRITING)

Grammar

Idioms

case | American Dictionary

case noun [C] (SITUATION)

case noun [C] (PROBLEM)

case noun [C] (ARGUMENT)

case noun [C] (CONTAINER)

case noun [C] (GRAMMAR)

case | Business English

See also

Examples of case

Collocations with case

case

Translations of case

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