lawsuit

I

(New American Roget's College Thesaurus)

Legal action

Nouns

1. lawsuit, suit, action, cause, litigation, proceedings, dispute; hearing, trial; verdict, judgment, award; recovery, damages. See legality.

2. (legal actions) citation, arraignment, prosecution, impeachment; accusation, true bill, indictment; apprehension, arrest; commitment, committal; imprisonment; brief; writ, summons, subpoena, habeas corpus, pleadings, declaration, bill, claim, bill of right, affidavit, answer, replication, plea, demurrer, rejoinder, rebuttal, summation; appeal, motion, writ of error, case, decision, precedent, reports; plea bargaining. See restraint.

3.

a. judge, justice, magistrate, surrogate, referee, chancellor; jurist, justice, [the] court; chancellor; judge of assize, recorder, justice of the peace, JP, magistrate; his worship, his honor, his Lordship, Lord Chancellor, Chief Justice; archon, tribune, praetor; mufti, cadi, mullah; judge advocate. Slang, beak.

b. coroner, sheriff, constable, bailiff, officer, policeman, gendarme, myrmidon of the law.

c. suitor, litigant, plaintiff, accused, alleged, defendant, appellant, claimant; adversary; agent.

d. lawyer, legal adviser; district or prosecuting attorney, attorney general, prosecutor; advocate, barrister, solicitor, counsel, counselor[-at-law], family or matrimonial lawyer; King's or Queen's counsel; attorney[-at-law or -in-fact]; bencher; bar; pleader; Portia; a Daniel come to judgment. Informal, DA; sea lawyer. Slang, [mouth]piece, lip, snollygoster, ambulance-chaser, Philadelphia lawyer, shark, shyster.

e. jury, grand or petty jury; tribunal, court, forum, bench; circuit, juror, juryman, jury foreman; twelve good men and true.

f. court, tribunal, judicatory; court of law, equity, chancery, or appeals, appellate court, Supreme Court; woolsack, drumhead; court-martial. Slang, kangaroo court.

g. courtroom, chambers, dock jury-box, witness-box or -stand.

4. action, case, proceeding, prosecution, litigation, civil or criminal action or case, class action, assumpsit, inquest; arrest, arraignment, bench warrant, subpoena, citation; search warrant; true bill, indictment, presentment, information, allegation, accusation, counterclaim, counterplea, cross-claim or -complaint; preliminary or pretrial hearing, voir dire; admission, confession; affidavit, appeal, certiorari; fact-finding, discovery, interrogatories; testimony, evidence, direct or indirect examination, rebuttal, objection, protest; plea bargaining; instructions; transcript; adjournment, cessation, continuance; gag rule; [binding or nonbinding] arbitration; assignment, assize, bail, challenge, charge.

Verbs — sue, litigate; bring or go to trial, put on trial, accuse, hale to court; prefer a claim, file; serve, cite, apprehend, arraign, prosecute, bring an action against, indict, impeach, commit, arrest (see restraint), summon[s], call up, swear out a warrant, give in charge; empanel a jury, implead, join issue, try; set in judgment, plea-bargain; judge, adjudicate; rule, award, affirm, deny. Slang, cop a plea.

Adjectives — litigious, litigant, contentious; judicial, legal, appellate.

Adverbs — on trial, on the bench.

Phrases — hard cases make bad laws; ignorance of the law is no excuse for breaking it; a man who is his own lawyer has a fool for a client; the long arm of the law; nolle prosequi; nolo contendere; tell God the truth but give the judge money.

Quotations — The rusty curb of old father antick, the law (Shakespeare), Laws, like houses, lean on one another (Edmund Burke), Laws were made to be broken (Oliver North), A lawyer with his briefcase can steal more than a hundred men with guns (Mario Puzo), The first thing we do, let's kill all the lawyers (Shakespeare), When a judge sits in judgment over a fellow man, he should feel as if a sword is pointed at his own heart (Talmud).

II

(Roget's IV) n.

Syn. action, prosecution, suit; see claim , trial 2 .

III

(Roget's 3 Superthesaurus) n.

suit, action, litigation, case, claim, prosecution, dispute. ''A machine which you go into as a pig and come out as a sausage.''—Ambrose Bierce. see court

IV

(Roget's Thesaurus II) noun A legal proceeding to demand justice or enforce a right: action, case, cause, instance, suit. See LAW.