litigation

noun

lit·​i·​ga·​tion ˌli-tə-ˈgā-shən How to pronounce litigation (audio)
plural litigations
Synonyms of litigationnext
: the act, process, or practice of settling a dispute in a court of law : the act or process of litigating
an issue that has been in litigation for years
an attorney who specializes in the litigation of property disputes
The American Judicial System generally limits the filing of lawsuits to individuals with a personal stake in the litigation, but there are instances when litigants cannot themselves prosecute an action.Jonathan Mahler
also : a legal action or proceeding (such as a lawsuit)
"You can't realize how much it costs to run one of these litigations. To get a battery of lawyers into a courtroom and do all the planning … and so on costs $500,000." Gordon Gould

Examples of litigation in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
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Anthropic was granted a preliminary injunction in its San Francisco case, allowing government agencies other than the DOD to use Anthropic’s models while the litigation unfolds. Ashley Capoot, CNBC, 19 May 2026 The letter reportedly gives the museum 14 days to respond or face potential litigation. Tessa Solomon, ARTnews.com, 19 May 2026 The vast majority of that litigation — which has paid out millions of dollars to Illinoisans mostly via class-action settlements — has been over employee fingerprints collected by timeclock technology, though Facebook's $650 million settlement in 2020 was with users over facial recognition. Hannah Meisel, CBS News, 19 May 2026 The litigation has been going on for nine years but isn’t necessarily over. Michael McCann, Sportico.com, 19 May 2026 See All Example Sentences for litigation

Word History

First Known Use

1612, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of litigation was in 1612

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Cite this Entry

“Litigation.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/litigation. Accessed 20 May. 2026.

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