lawsuit

See also: law suit

English

Etymology

From law +‎ suit.

Pronunciation

• (UK) enPR: lôʹs(j)o͞ot', IPA^(key): /ˈlɔːˌs(j)uːt/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• (US) enPR: lôʹs(j)o͞ot', IPA^(key): /ˈlɔˌs(j)ut/
• (cot–caught merger) enPR: läʹs(j)o͞ot', IPA^(key): /ˈlɑˌs(j)ut/

Noun

lawsuit (plural lawsuits)

1. (law) In civil law, a case where two or more people disagree and one or more of the parties take the case to a court for resolution.

   The lawyer advised his client against filing a lawsuit as it would take a lot of time and money to resolve.

   My ex-fiancé filed a lawsuit against me for a false restraining order and defamation.

   • 2013 August 10, “Can China clean up fast enough?”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8848:

     It has jailed environmental activists and is planning to limit the power of judicial oversight by handing a state-approved body a monopoly over bringing environmental lawsuits.

Derived terms

• class action lawsuit

Translations

case where a court is needed to resolve differences

• Afrikaans: saak (af)
• Arabic: دَعْوَى f (daʕwā)
• Armenian: հայց (hy) (haycʻ)
• Azerbaijani: dava (az), iddia (az)
• Belarusian: іск m (isk), пазо́ў m (pazóŭ)
• Bulgarian: съде́бен проце́с m (sǎdében procés), иск (bg) m (isk)
• Catalan: plet (ca) m, litigi (ca) m, causa (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 訴訟 / 诉讼 (sou³ zung⁶) (formal), 官司 (gun¹ si¹)

  Mandarin: 訴訟 / 诉讼 (zh) (sùsòng) (formal), 官司 (zh) (guānsi) (informal)

• Czech: soudní proces m, proces (cs) m, soudní pře f
• Danish: retssag (da) c
• Dutch: rechtszaak (nl) f, zaak (nl) m or f
• Esperanto: proceso, juĝafero
• Finnish: siviilikanne, kanne (fi), oikeusjuttu (fi)
• French: poursuite judiciaire (fr) f, procès (fr) m, poursuite (fr) f
• Galician: preito m, litixio (gl) m
• German: Gerichtsverfahren (de) n, Rechtsstreit (de) m, Prozess (de) m, Klage (de) f

  Alemannic German: Chlegti f

• Greek: αγωγή (el) f (agogí), μήνυση (el) f (mínysi)
• Hindi: दावा (hi) m (dāvā)
• Hungarian: per (hu), kereset (hu), ügy (hu), panasz (hu), bírósági eljárás
• Irish: agra dlí m, cúis dlí f, tagra m
• Italian: causa di tribunale f, causa (it)
• Japanese: 訴訟 (ja) (そしょう, soshō)
• Khmer: បណ្ដឹង (km) (bɑndəng)
• Korean: 소송(訴訟) (ko) (sosong)
• Latin: līs (la) f, dica (la) f
• Lithuanian: skundas m
• Macedonian: парница f (parnica)
• Middle English: sute, questioun, askynge, accion, ple
• Mongolian: заалдлага (mn) (zaaldlaga)
• Ottoman Turkish: یارغو (yarğı)
• Persian: دعویٰ (fa) (da'vâ)
• Plautdietsch: Jerechtsstriet m
• Polish: pozew (pl) m
• Portuguese: processo judicial m, processo (pt) m, pleito (pt) m
• Romanian: caz judiciar n, proces (ro), cauză (ro) f
• Russian: иск (ru) m (isk), тя́жба (ru) f (tjážba), проце́сс (ru) m (procéss), суде́бный проце́сс (ru) m (sudébnyj procéss)
• Scottish Gaelic: cùis-lagha f
• Slovak: súdny proces m
• Spanish: proceso judicial m, proceso (es) m, pleito (es) m, litigio (es) m, acción (es) f, causa (es) f
• Swahili: kesi (sw)
• Tagalog: pleyto
• Tajik: даъво (da'vo)
• Telugu: వ్యాజ్యము (te) (vyājyamu)
• Turkish: dava (tr)
• Ugaritic: 𐎘𐎔𐎉 (ṯpṭ)
• Ukrainian: по́зов m (pózov), судо́вий проце́с m (sudóvyj procés)
• Urdu: مُقَدَّمَہ (muqaddama), دعویٰ m (da'vā)
• Welsh: achos cyfreithiol m, achos cyfraith m, cyngaws m

Verb

lawsuit (third-person singular simple present lawsuits, present participle lawsuiting, simple past and past participle lawsuited)

1. To bring a lawsuit.
   • 1970, Charles Lucey, Ireland and the Irish: Cathleen Ni Houlihan is Alive and Well, page 112:

     The master, said Thady, lawsuited against the tenants […]