1. A special set of circumstances
   "it may rain in which case the picnic will be cancelled";
   - event
    
2. An occurrence of something
   "it was a case of bad judgment";
   - instance, example
    
3. The actual state of things
   "that was not the case"
    
4. (law) a comprehensive term for any proceeding in a court of law whereby an individual seeks a legal remedy
   "He filed a case against his former employer for wrongful termination";
   - lawsuit, suit, cause, causa [archaic]
    
5. A portable container for carrying several objects
   "the musicians left their instrument cases backstage"
    
6. A problem requiring investigation
   "Perry Mason solved the case of the missing heir"
    
7. A statement of facts and reasons used to support an argument
   "he stated his case clearly"
    
8. A person requiring professional services
   "a typical case was the suburban housewife described by a marriage counsellor"
    
9. A person who is subjected to experimental or other observational procedures; someone who is an object of investigation
   "the cases that we studied were drawn from two different communities";
   - subject, guinea pig
    
10. A person of a specified kind (usually with many eccentricities)
    "a mental case";
    - character, eccentric, type
     
11. A specific state of mind that is temporary
    "a case of the jitters"
     
12. The housing or outer covering of something
    "the clock has a walnut case";
    - shell, casing
     
13. A glass container used to store and display items in a shop, museum or home
    "The rare artifacts were carefully arranged in the museum's display case";
    - display case, showcase, vitrine
     
14. The quantity contained in a case
    "The store received a case of new smartphones";
    - caseful
     
15. The enclosing frame around a door or window opening
    "the cases had rotted away and had to be replaced";
    - casing
     
16. (printing) the receptacle in which a compositor has their 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";
    - compositor's case, typesetter's case
     
17. Bed linen consisting of a cover for a pillow
    "the burglar carried his loot in a case";
    - pillowcase, slip, pillow slip [Brit]
     
18. Nouns, pronouns or adjectives (often marked by inflection) related in some way to other words in a sentence
    "In Latin, the grammatical case of a noun indicates its function in the sentence";
    - grammatical case
     
19. A specific size and style of type within a type family
    "The headline was set in bold case";
    - font, fount [Brit], typeface, face
     
20. An enveloping structure or covering enclosing an animal or plant organ or part
    "The leaf bud is enclosed in a protective case";
    - sheath

1. Enclose in, or as if in, a case
   "my feet were cased in mud";
   - encase, incase [rare]
    
2. Look over, usually with the intention to rob
   "The men cased the house"

Derived forms: casing, cases, cased

Type of: actor, adult, argument, bed linen, circumstance, close in, container, containerful, cover, covering, doer, enclose, fact, frame, frame of mind, framework, grammatical category, grownup, happening, housing, inclose, inspect, legal proceeding, natural covering, natural event, occurrence, occurrent, problem, proceeding, proceedings, receptacle, shut in, state of mind, statement, syntactic category, type, worker

Part of: door, doorway, grandfather clock, longcase clock, room access, threshold, type family, window

Encyclopedia: Case, Richard