case1

 
Pronunciation: /keɪs/

noun

  • 1an instance of a particular situation; an example of something occurring: a case of mistaken identity in many cases farmers do have a deep feeling for their land
  • [usually in singular] the situation affecting or relating to a particular person or thing: I’ll make an exception in your case
  • an incident or set of circumstances under official investigation by the police: a murder case
  • 2an instance of a disease, injury, or problem: 200,000 cases of hepatitis B
  • a person or their particular problem requiring or receiving medical or welfare attention: most breast cancer cases were older women the local social services discussed Gemma’s case urgent cases were turned away from the hospital
  • [with adjective or noun modifier] informal a person whose situation is regarded as pitiable or as having no chance of improvement: Vicky was a very sad case
  • informal, dated an amusing or eccentric person.
  • 3a legal action, especially one to be decided in a court of law: a libel case a former employee brought the case against the council
  • a set of facts or arguments supporting one side in a legal case: the case for the defence
  • a set of facts or arguments supporting one side of a debate or controversy: the case against tobacco advertising
  • (also case stated) an agreed summary of the facts relating to a legal case, drawn up for review or decision on a point of law by a higher court.
  • 4 Grammar any of the forms of a noun, adjective, or pronoun that express the semantic relation of the word to other words in the sentence: the accusative case

Phrases

as the case may be

according to the circumstances (used when referring to two or more alternatives): the authorities will decide if they are satisfied or not satisfied, as the case may be

be the case

be so.

in any case

whatever happens or may have happened: perhaps you’ll let me know tomorrow—in any case I’ll talk to you then
moreover: he wasn’t allowed out yet, and in any case he wasn’t well enough

(just) in case

  • 1as a provision against something happening or being true: we put on thick jumpers, in case it was cold
  • 2if it is true that: in case you haven’t figured it out, let me explain

in case of

in the event of (a particular situation): instructions about what to do in case of fire

in no case

under no circumstances: in no case is a specific funding target set

in that case

if that is or will be the situation: ‘I’m free this evening.’ ‘In that case, why not have dinner with me?’

it's a case of ——

used to introduce a summary of a particular situation, especially one that is unavoidable under the circumstances: it’s not a case of wanting to return to work but having to

on (or off) someone's case

informal continually (or no longer) criticizing or harassing someone: teachers, you know, get on your case

Origin:

Middle English: from Old French cas, from Latin casus 'fall', related to cadere 'to fall'; in case1 (sense 4) directly from Latin, translating Greek ptōsis, literally 'fall'

Grammar

Nouns and pronouns can be used as the subject or the object of a sentence:

subject verb object
The dogbither.
Shesoldher dog.
As can be seen from this example, the pronoun she is used as the subject, but if it is used as the object it becomes her. These different forms are called cases. There are three cases in English, subjective, objective, and possessive:
subjective objective possessive
Imemine
weusours
sheherhers
hehimhis
ititits
youyouyours
theythemtheirs
whowhomwhose
The subjective form is used for the subject of a clause or sentence and also, in formal language, for the subject complement (for example, It is I). The objective form is used for the object and also after prepositions (for example, The person to whom I gave a present…). The possessive form is used in sentences such as: England is mine. It owes me a living. You have my soul now, all my thoughts are yours. In some languages nouns have subjective and objective cases, but English nouns do not. They do, however, have a possessive case. We add an apostrophe followed by the letter ‘s’ to show this in singular nouns and add a simple apostrophe to plurals ending in ‘s’: a person’s name my parents' Silver Wedding