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lawsuit

American  
[law-soot] / ˈlɔˌsut /

noun

  1. a case in a court of law involving a claim, complaint, etc., by one party against another; suit at law.

lawsuit British  
/ -ˌsjuːt, ˈlɔːˌsuːt /

noun

  1. a proceeding in a court of law brought by one party against another, esp a civil action

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of lawsuit

First recorded in 1615–25; law 1 + suit

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Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Anthropic recently agreed to pay at least $1.5 billion to settle a copyright-infringement lawsuit over its use of pirated books to train its models.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 3, 2026

A judge closes Justin Baldoni’s defamation case against Blake Lively but her original lawsuit — accusing him of misconduct on “It Ends With Us” — is still moving forward.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 2, 2026

She shared details of the allegations in a New York Times article published before her lawsuit.

From BBC • Apr. 2, 2026

The department did not respond to questions about Gordon’s comments or his lawsuit.

From Salon • Apr. 1, 2026

Then, sitting in her dark living room a year and a half after Cofield’s lawsuit ended, she finally began reading and rereading the full details of her mother’s death in her medical records.

From "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks" by Rebecca Skloot

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.