case
noun · verb
Simple meaning
An actual event, situation.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
kaysIPA pronunciation (US)
ˈkeɪs
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
An actual event, situation, or fact.
A piece of work, specifically defined within a profession; the set of tasks involved in addressing the situation of a specific person or event.
academia
An instance or event as a topic of study.
A box that contains or can contain a number of identical items of manufacture.
A box, sheath, or covering generally.
A piece of luggage that can be used to transport an apparatus such as a sewing machine.
verb
transitive
To place (an item or items of manufacture) into a box, as in preparation for shipment.
transitiveinformal
To survey (a building or other location) surreptitiously, as in preparation for a robbery.
transitive
To cover or protect with, or as if with, a case; to enclose.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- A1 · Beginner
- Frequency
- Very Common
- Typical Use
- Everyday English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: An actual event, situation, or fact.
Used this way, case is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Matter-of-fact
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Nearby words
- event , a specialist term, precise but narrower
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use case
- “A typical case was the suburban housewife described by a marriage counselor.”noun
- “Perry Mason solved the case of the missing heir.”noun
- “It was a case of bad judgment.”noun
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
A metal blade with a handle.
A system of jurisprudence based on judicial precedents rather than statutory laws.
The number of cases handled in a given period of time (as by a court or agency).
An operative who also serves as an official staffer of an intelligence service.
A metallic cylinder packed with shot and used as ammunition in a firearm.
A careful study of some social unit (as a corporation or division within a corporation) that attempts to determine what factors led to its success or failure.
Related words
Connected by subject or meaning, not by word formation.
A book in which detailed written records of a case are kept and which are a source of information for subsequent work.
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.