Suit vs. Case: Know the Difference
By Shumaila Saeed || Updated on December 29, 2023
"Suit" primarily refers to a legal action or a set of clothes, while "Case" denotes a legal matter or an instance of a particular situation or condition.
Key Differences
A suit is a legal term referring to a lawsuit or a legal action initiated by a party against another. A case, in legal terms, is a general term for an action, cause, suit, or controversy, at law or in equity.
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In clothing, a suit refers to a set of garments made from the same cloth, typically including a jacket and trousers or a skirt. A case, in a different context, can refer to a container or a protective covering, such as a suitcase or a phone case.
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The term "suit" can also mean to be appropriate or fitting in a given situation. The word "case" can be used to describe an instance or example of something, as in "a case of mistaken identity."
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Suit can also mean to satisfy or fulfill, like in "suit your needs." In contrast, "case" in its broader usage can signify a situation or set of circumstances, as in "in case of emergency."
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In the context of card games, suit refers to any of the categories into which cards are divided, like hearts or spades. Case, conversely, can mean a question or matter that remains unsettled or undecided, as in a legal case pending judgment.
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Comparison Chart
Clothing & Containers
Set of garments; jacket & trousers
Container or protective cover
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General Usage
To be appropriate or fitting; to satisfy
Instance or example; situation
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Suit and Case Definitions
Suit
In law, a suit is a legal action brought by one party against another.
She filed a suit against the company for wrongful termination.
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Case
A case is an instance of a particular situation or condition.
This is a clear case of misunderstanding.
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Suit
In cards, a suit refers to any of the categories divided by the symbol on the cards.
In poker, a flush is five cards of the same suit.
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Case
In law, a case is a matter brought before a court of law for adjudication.
The judge will hear the criminal case next week.
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Suit
Suit can also mean to be pleasing or satisfactory.
The apartment suits their needs perfectly.
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Case
An instance or occurrence of a particular kind or category
A case of mistaken identity.
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Suit
A set of matching outer garments, especially one consisting of a coat with trousers or a skirt, often worn on formal occasions.
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Suit
(Slang)A person, especially an executive, who wears one of these garments at work.
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Case
A set of circumstances or a state of affairs; a situation
It may rain, in which case the hike will be canceled.
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Case
Actual fact; reality
We suspected the walls were hollow, and this proved to be the case.
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Suit
A group of things used together; a set or collection
A suit of sails.
A suit of tools.
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Suit
(Games)Any of the four sets of 13 playing cards (clubs, diamonds, hearts, and spades) in a standard deck, the members of which bear the same marks.
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Case
A situation that requires investigation, especially by a formal or official body.
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Suit
The act or an instance of courting a woman; courtship
She was inclined to accept his suit.
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Case
A set of reasons or supporting facts; an argument
Presented a good case for changing the law.
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Suit
To meet the requirements of; fit
This candidate does not suit our qualifications.
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Case
A person being assisted, treated, or studied, as by a physician, lawyer, or social worker.
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Suit
To make appropriate or suitable; adapt
Builders who suit the house to the owner's specifications.
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Case
In traditional grammar, a distinct form of a noun, pronoun, or modifier that is used to express one or more particular syntactic relationships to other words in a sentence.
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Case
Case In some varieties of generative grammar, the thematic or semantic role of a noun phrase as represented abstractly but not necessarily indicated overtly in surface structure. In such frameworks, nouns in English have Case even in the absence of inflectional case endings.
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Suit
To provide with clothing; dress
The NCOs suited the recruits in green uniforms.
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Suit
A set of clothes to be worn together, now especially a man's matching jacket and trousers (also business suit or lounge suit), or a similar outfit for a woman.
Nick hired a navy-blue suit for the wedding.
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Suit
(by extension) A garment or set of garments suitable and/or required for a given task or activity: space suit, boiler suit, protective suit, swimsuit.
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Suit
A person who wears matching jacket and trousers, especially a boss or a supervisor.
Be sure to keep your nose to the grindstone today; the suits are making a "surprise" visit to this department.
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Suit
(legal) The attempt to gain an end by legal process; a process instituted in a court of law for the recovery of a right or claim; a lawsuit.
If you take my advice, you'll file a suit against him immediately.
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Case
The form of a written, printed, or keyed letter that distinguishes it as being lowercase or uppercase
Typed the password using the wrong case.
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Case
(Slang) To examine carefully, as in planning a crime
Cased the bank before robbing it.
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Case
An actual event, situation, or fact.
For a change, in this case, he was telling the truth.
It is not the case that every unfamiliar phrase is an idiom.
In case of fire, break glass. [sign on fire extinguisher holder in public space]
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Suit
(obsolete) The act of suing; the pursuit of a particular object or goal.
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Case
A piece of work, specifically defined within a profession.
It was one of the detective's easiest cases.
Social workers should work on a maximum of forty active cases.
The doctor told us of an interesting case he had treated that morning.
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Suit
(card games) Each of the sets of a pack of cards distinguished by color and/or specific emblems, such as the spades, hearts, diamonds, or clubs of traditional Anglo, Hispanic, and French playing cards.
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Case
(academia) An instance or event as a topic of study.
The teaching consists of theory lessons and case studies.
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Suit
(obsolete) Regular order; succession.
Every five and thirty years the same kind and suit of weather comes again.
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Case
(grammar) A specific inflection of a word (particularly a noun, pronoun, or adjective) depending on its function in the sentence.
The accusative case canonically indicates a direct object.
Latin has six cases, and remnants of a seventh.
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Suit
(archaic) A group of similar or related objects or items considered as a whole; a suite (of rooms etc.)
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Case
Grammatical cases and their meanings taken either as a topic in general or within a specific language.
Jane has been studying case in Caucasian languages.
Latin is a language that employs case.
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Case
(medicine) An instance of a specific condition or set of symptoms.
There were another five cases reported overnight.
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Suit
To be suitable or apt for one's image.
The ripped jeans didn't suit her elegant image.
That new top suits you. Where did you buy it?
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Case
(programming) A section of code representing one of the actions of a conditional switch.
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Suit
(transitive) To be appropriate or apt for.
The nickname "Bullet" suits her, since she is a fast runner.
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Case
A box that contains or can contain a number of identical items of manufacture.
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Case
A box, sheath, or covering generally.
A case for spectacles; the case of a watch
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Suit
To please; to make content; to fit one's taste.
He is well suited with his place.
My new job suits me, as I work fewer hours and don't have to commute so much.
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Case
A piece of luggage that can be used to transport an apparatus such as a sewing machine.
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Suit
(intransitive) To agree; to be fitted; to correspond (usually followed by to, archaically also followed by with)
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Suit
The act of suing; the process by which one endeavors to gain an end or an object; an attempt to attain a certain result; pursuit; endeavor.
Thenceforth the suit of earthly conquest shone.
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Case
A piece of furniture, constructed partially of transparent glass or plastic, within which items can be displayed.
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Suit
The act of wooing in love; the solicitation of a woman in marriage; courtship.
Rebate your loves, each rival suit suspend,Till this funereal web my labors end.
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Case
The outer covering or framework of a piece of apparatus such as a computer.
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Suit
The attempt to gain an end by legal process; an action or process for the recovery of a right or claim; legal application to a court for justice; prosecution of right before any tribunal; as, a civil suit; a criminal suit; a suit in chancery.
I arrest thee at the suit of Count Orsino.
In England the several suits, or remedial instruments of justice, are distinguished into three kinds - actions personal, real, and mixed.
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Case
A shallow tray divided into compartments or "boxes" for holding type, traditionally arranged in sets of two, the "upper case" (containing capitals, small capitals, accented) and "lower case" (small letters, figures, punctuation marks, quadrats, and spaces).
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Suit
That which follows as a retinue; a company of attendants or followers; the assembly of persons who attend upon a prince, magistrate, or other person of distinction; - often written suite, and pronounced swēt.
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Case
The nature of a piece of alphabetic type, whether a “capital” (upper case) or “small” (lower case) letter.
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Suit
Things that follow in a series or succession; the individual objects, collectively considered, which constitute a series, as of rooms, buildings, compositions, etc.; - often written suite, and pronounced swēt.
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Suit
A number of things used together, and generally necessary to be united in order to answer their purpose; a number of things ordinarily classed or used together; a set; as, a suit of curtains; a suit of armor; a suit of clothes; a three-piece business suit.
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Case
(US) A unit of liquid measure used to measure sales in the beverage industry, equivalent to 192 fluid ounces.
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Suit
One of the four sets of cards which constitute a pack; - each set consisting of thirteen cards bearing a particular emblem, as hearts, spades, clubs, or diamonds; also, the members of each such suit held by a player in certain games, such as bridge; as, hearts were her long suit.
To deal and shuffle, to divide and sortHer mingled suits and sequences.
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Suit
Regular order; succession.
Every five and thirty years the same kind and suit of weather comes again.
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Case
A thin layer of harder metal on the surface of an object whose deeper metal is allowed to remain soft.
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Suit
Someone who dresses in a business suit, as contrasted with more informal attire;
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Suit
To fit; to adapt; to make proper or suitable; as, to suit the action to the word.
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Suit
To be fitted to; to accord with; to become; to befit.
Ill suits his cloth the praise of railing well.
Raise her notes to that sublime degreeWhich suits song of piety and thee.
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Case
(transitive) To place (an item or items of manufacture) into a box, as in preparation for shipment.
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Suit
To please; to make content; as, he is well suited with his place; to suit one's taste.
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Oct 19, 2023
Case
(transitive) To cover or protect with, or as if with, a case; to enclose.
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Suit
To agree; to accord; to be fitted; to correspond; - usually followed by with or to.
The place itself was suiting to his care.
Give me not an officeThat suits with me so ill.
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Oct 19, 2023
Case
To survey (a building or other location) surreptitiously, as in preparation for a robbery.
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Suit
A comprehensive term for any proceeding in a court of law whereby an individual seeks a legal remedy;
The family brought suit against the landlord
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Oct 19, 2023
Case
(poker slang) The last remaining card of a particular rank.
He drew the case eight!
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Suit
A set of garments (usually including a jacket and trousers or skirt) for outerwear all of the same fabric and color;
They buried him in his best suit
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Case
A box, sheath, or covering; as, a case for holding goods; a case for spectacles; the case of a watch; the case (capsule) of a cartridge; a case (cover) for a book.
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Suit
Playing card in any of four sets of 13 cards in a pack; each set has its own symbol and color;
A flush is five cards in the same suit
In bridge you must follow suit
What suit is trumps?
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Case
A box and its contents; the quantity contained in a box; as, a case of goods; a case of instruments.
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Suit
A businessman dressed in a business suit;
All the suits care about is the bottom line
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Suit
A man's courting of a woman; seeking the affections of a woman (usually with the hope of marriage);
Its was a brief and intense courtship
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Case
That which befalls, comes, or happens; an event; an instance; a circumstance, or all the circumstances; condition; state of things; affair; as, a strange case; a case of injustice; the case of the Indian tribes.
In any case thou shalt deliver him the pledge.
If the case of the man be so with his wife.
And when a lady's in the caseYou know all other things give place.
You think this madness but a common case.
I am in case to justle a constable,
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Suit
Accord or comport with;
This kind of behavior does not suit a young woman!
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Case
A patient under treatment; an instance of sickness or injury; as, ten cases of fever; also, the history of a disease or injury.
A proper remedy in hypochondriacal cases.
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Suit
Enhance the appearance of;
Mourning becomes Electra
This behavior doesn't suit you!
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Case
The matters of fact or conditions involved in a suit, as distinguished from the questions of law; a suit or action at law; a cause.
Let us consider the reason of the case, for nothing is law that is not reason.
Not one case in the reports of our courts.
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Oct 19, 2023
Suit
A suit is a set of garments made from the same cloth, often a jacket and trousers.
He wore a navy blue suit to the job interview.
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Dec 29, 2023
Case
One of the forms, or the inflections or changes of form, of a noun, pronoun, or adjective, which indicate its relation to other words, and in the aggregate constitute its declension; the relation which a noun or pronoun sustains to some other word.
Case is properly a falling off from the nominative or first state of word; the name for which, however, is now, by extension of its signification, applied also to the nominative.
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Suit
To suit means to be convenient or appropriate for a particular purpose.
The time of the meeting suits everyone's schedule.
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Case
To cover or protect with, or as with, a case; to inclose.
The man who, cased in steel, had passed whole days and nights in the saddle.
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Oct 19, 2023
Case
A comprehensive term for any proceeding in a court of law whereby an individual seeks a legal remedy;
The family brought suit against the landlord
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Case
An occurrence of something;
It was a case of bad judgment
Another instance occurred yesterday
But there is always the famous example of the Smiths
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Case
A special set of circumstances;
In that event, the first possibility is excluded
It may rain in which case the picnic will be canceled
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Case
A problem requiring investigation;
Perry Mason solved the case of the missing heir
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Case
A statement of facts and reasons used to support an argument;
He stated his case clearly
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Case
A portable container for carrying several objects;
The musicians left their instrument cases backstage
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Oct 19, 2023
Case
A person who is subjected to experimental or other observational procedures; someone who is an object of investigation;
The subjects for this investigation were selected randomly
The cases that we studied were drawn from two different communities
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Case
A person requiring professional services;
A typical case was the suburban housewife described by a marriage counselor
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Case
A glass container used to store and display items in a shop or museum or home
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Case
Nouns or pronouns or adjectives (often marked by inflection) related in some way to other words in a sentence
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Case
The housing or outer covering of something;
The clock has a walnut case
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Oct 19, 2023
Case
A person of a specified kind (usually with many eccentricities);
A real character
A strange character
A friendly eccentric
The capable type
A mental case
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Case
An enveloping structure or covering enclosing an animal or plant organ or part
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Case
The enclosing frame around a door or window opening;
The casings had rotted away and had to be replaced
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Case
Bed linen consisting of a cover for a pillow;
The burglar carried his loot in a pillowcase
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Case
Look over, usually with the intention to rob;
They men cased the housed
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Oct 19, 2023
Case
A case can refer to a container designed to hold or protect something.
She keeps her violin in a hard case for protection.
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Dec 29, 2023
Case
Case can also mean an occurrence of a disease or ailment.
There was a reported case of flu in the school.
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Dec 29, 2023
Case
In grammar, case refers to the form of a noun, pronoun, or adjective, denoting its relation to other words.
In Latin, the accusative case often indicates the direct object of a verb.
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Dec 29, 2023
Repeatedly Asked Queries
What is a suit in legal terms?
A lawsuit or legal action initiated by one party against another.
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Dec 29, 2023
What does case mean in a legal context?
A legal matter or controversy considered in court.
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Dec 29, 2023
Can suit refer to clothing?
Yes, it refers to a set of garments, typically a jacket and trousers.
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Dec 29, 2023
What is a case in the context of containers?
A protective covering or container for storing items.
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Dec 29, 2023
What does case mean in everyday language?
An instance or example of a situation or condition.
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Dec 29, 2023
Can suit have a legal connotation?
Yes, it often refers to a lawsuit or legal proceeding.
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Dec 29, 2023
What kinds of cases are there?
Various, including legal cases, protective cases, and medical cases.
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Dec 29, 2023
What does it mean to suit someone?
To be appropriate, fitting, or pleasing to someone.
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Dec 29, 2023
Is a suit always formal wear?
Typically, but there are also casual styles of suits.
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What is a briefcase?
A narrow box-shaped bag or case used mainly for carrying papers.
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Dec 29, 2023
Are there different types of suits?
Yes, including business suits, tuxedos, and morning suits.
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Dec 29, 2023
Is suit used in card games?
Yes, it refers to a category like hearts or spades in a deck of cards.
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Dec 29, 2023
Can case refer to a grammatical term?
Yes, it denotes the form of a noun or pronoun in relation to other words.
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Dec 29, 2023
Does "case" have a usage in detective work?
Yes, it can refer to a matter under investigation by a detective.
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Dec 29, 2023
Does case have a medical usage?
Yes, it can refer to an occurrence of a disease or condition.
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Dec 29, 2023
What does "suit yourself" mean?
It's a phrase meaning do whatever you think is best.
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Dec 29, 2023
What is a "lawsuit"?
It's another term for a legal suit, a court action brought by one party against another.
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Dec 29, 2023
What is a "case study"?
An in-depth analysis or investigation of a particular case.
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Dec 29, 2023
Is a suit considered formal attire?
Yes, it's often worn for formal or professional occasions.
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Dec 29, 2023
Can case mean to examine or inspect something?
Yes, as in the phrase "to case the joint."
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Dec 29, 2023
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About Author
Written by
Shumaila SaeedShumaila Saeed, an expert content creator with 6 years of experience, specializes in distilling complex topics into easily digestible comparisons, shining a light on the nuances that both inform and educate readers with clarity and accuracy.
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