lawsuit, suit, case, cause, causa: a comprehensive term for any proceeding in a court of law whereby an individual seeks a legal remedy; "the family brought suit against the landlord" case, instance, example: an occurrence of something; "it was a case of bad judgment"; "another instance occurred yesterday"; "but there is always the famous example of the Smiths" event, case: a special set of circumstances; "in that event, the first possibility is excluded"; "it may rain in which case the picnic will be canceled" case: a problem requiring investigation; "Perry Mason solved the case of the missing heir" case: the actual state of things; "that was not the case" case: a statement of facts and reasons used to support an argument; "he stated his case clearly" case: a portable container for carrying several objects; "the musicians left their instrument cases backstage" subject, case, guinea_pig: a person who is subjected to experimental or other observational procedures; someone who is an object of investigation; "the subjects for this investigation were selected randomly"; "the cases that we studied were drawn from two different communities" case: a person requiring professional services; "a typical case was the suburban housewife described by a marriage counselor" case, caseful: the quantity contained in a case case, display_case, showcase: a glass container used to store and display items in a shop or museum or home case: a specific state of mind that is temporary; "a case of the jitters" case, grammatical_case: nouns or pronouns or adjectives (often marked by inflection) related in some way to other words in a sentence shell, case, casing: the housing or outer covering of something; "the clock has a walnut case" character, eccentric, type, case: a person of a specified kind (usually with many eccentricities); "a real character"; "a strange character"; "a friendly eccentric"; "the capable type"; "a mental case" sheath, case: an enveloping structure or covering enclosing an animal or plant organ or part casing, case: the enclosing frame around a door or window opening; "the casings had rotted away and had to be replaced" case, pillowcase, slip, pillow_slip: bed linen consisting of a cover for a pillow; "the burglar carried his loot in a pillowcase" case: look over, usually with the intention to rob; "They men cased the housed" encase, incase, case: enclose in, or as if in, a case; "my feet were encased in mud"