plaintiff

[pleyn-tif]

noun

Law.

1. a person who brings suit in a court (defendant ).

plaintiff

/ ˈpleɪntɪf /

noun

1. Now replaced by: claimant. (formerly) a person who brings a civil action in a court of law Compare defendant

plaintiff

1. The party that institutes a suit in a court. The person or entity the plaintiff sues is the defendant.

Other Word Forms

• plaintiffship noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of plaintiff¹

First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English plaintif “complaining person,” noun use of the adjective; plaintive

Word History and Origins

Origin of plaintiff¹

C14: from legal French plaintif, from Old French plaintif (adj) complaining, from plainte _plaint

Example Sentences

The network's use of "Big Lie," he said, was a "deliberate effort by CNN to propagate to its audience an association between the plaintiff and one of the most repugnant figures in modern history."

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In an incident in March 2021, the plaintiff claims that he was set up.

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David Cassirer, the lead plaintiff in the case since Claude’s death in 2010, argued the opposite in his own filing to the court.

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Now, she is one of two named plaintiffs in a class-action lawsuit for Canadian victims of the experiments.

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A separate claim against Samarco's second parent company, Brazilian mining company Vale, was filed in the Netherlands, with more than 70,000 plaintiffs.

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Related Words

• complainant 
• litigant 
• prosecutor