Case

Part of speech: noun, verb

Pronunciation: /keɪs/

Definitions

1. A container or covering designed to protect or hold something, or a specific instance or example of a particular situation
2. A receptacle used for storage or protection, or an occurrence representative of a broader category or matter needing consideration
3. A protective enclosure for items or a situation presenting a distinct instance or particular example of a condition

Etymology: "Case" in the sense of a protective box has an unexpected sibling in "cash" and "chase." It descends from Latin "capsa," meaning "box" or "bookcase," itself from "capere," "to take, seize, hold." Old Northern French turned this into "casse," and English borrowed it as "case," the container sense arriving in Middle English. Along the way the same Latin root split into several English words: "cash" (originally a money box), "chase" (a frame that holds type for printing), and "chasse," a reliquary or ornamental casing. These are called doublets, two words from one source that entered by different routes. The other "case" traces back to Latin "cāsus," "a falling, an accident, an occurrence," from "cadere," "to fall." It came into English through Old French "cas," meaning "an event," so the idea of something that happens, or falls out, is at the root of legal cases, grammatical cases, and "in any case."

Synonyms: instance, situation, example, occurrence, circumstance

Antonyms: INVALID, INVALID, INVALID, INVALID, INVALID