What does case mean?

What does case mean?. The world's largest and most trusted free online dictionary: definitions, synonyms, word origins, example sentences, word games, and more.

What does case mean? - The Free Dictionary

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[n] 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)[v] look over, usually with the intention to rob(They men cased the housed)[n] a special set of circumstances(in that event, the first possi

case

case - The Free Dictionary

[n] 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)

[v] look over, usually with the intention to rob
(They men cased the housed)

[n] a special set of circumstances
(in that event, the first possibility is excluded it may rain in which case the picnic will be canceled)

[v] enclose in, or as if in, a case
(my feet were encased in mud)

[n] 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)

[n] the actual state of things
(that was not the case)

[n] a portable container for carrying several objects
(the musicians left their instrument cases backstage)

[n] a person requiring professional services
(a typical case was the suburban housewife described by a marriage counselor)

[n] 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)

[n] a problem requiring investigation
(Perry Mason solved the case of the missing heir)

[n] a statement of facts and reasons used to support an argument
(he stated his case clearly)

[n] the quantity contained in a case

[n] nouns or pronouns or adjectives (often marked by inflection) related in some way to other words in a sentence

[n] a specific state of mind that is temporary
(a case of the jitters)

[n] 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)

[n] a specific size and style of type within a type family

[n] an enveloping structure or covering enclosing an animal or plant organ or part

[n] the housing or outer covering of something
(the clock has a walnut case)

[n] the enclosing frame around a door or window opening
(the casings had rotted away and had to be replaced)

[n] (printing) the receptacle in which a compositor has his type, which is divided into compartments for the different letters, spaces, or numbers
(for English, a compositor will ordinarily have two such cases, the upper case containing the capitals and the lower case containing the small letters)

[n] bed linen consisting of a cover for a pillow
(the burglar carried his loot in a pillowcase)

[n] a glass container used to store and display items in a shop or museum or home

Other vocabulary

c, c and w, c battery, c clef, c compiler, c horizon, c major, c major scale, c program, c-clamp, c-horizon, c-note, c-ration, c-reactive protein, c-section, c. d. gibson, c. diphtheriae, c. h. best, c. k. ogden, c. northcote parkinson, c. p. snow, c. psittaci, c. s. forester, c. s. lewis, c. trachomatis, c. vann woodward, c. w. post, c.e., c.o.d., c.p.u., a, a battery, a bit, a capella singing, a cappella, a cappella singing, a couple of, a few, a fortiori, a good deal, a great deal, a horizon, a hundred times, a kempis, a la carte, a la mode, a level, a little, a lot, a million times, a posteriori, a priori, a trifle, a'man, a-bomb, a-horizon, a-line, a-list, a-ok, a-okay

Dictionary

A dictionary is a listing of lexemes from the lexicon of one or more specific languages, often arranged alphabetically (or by consonantal root for Semitic languages or radical and stroke for ideographic languages), which may include information on definitions, usage, etymologies, pronunciations, translation, etc. It is a lexicographical reference that shows inter-relationships among the data.

A broad distinction is made between general and specialized dictionaries. Specialized dictionaries include words in specialist fields, rather than a complete range of words in the language. Lexical items that describe concepts in specific fields are usually called terms instead of words, although there is no consensus whether lexicology and terminology are two different fields of study. In theory, general dictionaries are supposed[citation needed] to be semasiological, mapping word to definition, while specialized dictionaries are supposed to be onomasiological, first identifying concepts and then establishing the terms used to designate them. In practice, the two approaches are used for both types. There are other types of dictionaries that do not fit neatly into the above distinction, for instance bilingual (translation) dictionaries, dictionaries of synonyms (thesauri), and rhyming dictionaries. The word dictionary (unqualified) is usually understood to refer to a general purpose monolingual dictionary.

There is also a contrast between prescriptive or descriptive dictionaries; the former reflect what is seen as correct use of the language while the latter reflect recorded actual use. Stylistic indications (e.g. "informal" or "vulgar") in many modern dictionaries are also considered by some to be less than objectively descriptive.

The first recorded dictionaries date back to Sumerian times around 2300 BCE, in the form of bilingual dictionaries, and the oldest surviving monolingual dictionaries are Chinese dictionaries c. 3rd century BCE. The first purely English alphabetical dictionary was A Table Alphabeticall, written in 1604, and monolingual dictionaries in other languages also began appearing in Europe at around this time. The systematic study of dictionaries as objects of scientific interest arose as a 20th-century enterprise, called lexicography, and largely initiated by Ladislav Zgusta. The birth of the new discipline was not without controversy, with the practical dictionary-makers being sometimes accused by others of having an "astonishing" lack of method and critical-self reflection.