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paternity suit

British  

noun

  1. law the US (and in Britain a nontechnical) term for affiliation proceedings

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

A blood test ordered in a 2016 paternity suit confirmed one of the children, an 11-year-old girl, was Elkins’s child, although she didn’t use his last name, court records show.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 20, 2026

In 2019, a DNA test confirmed that, despite his repeated denials, Hunter Biden had fathered a child with an Arkansas woman who filed a paternity suit against him.

From BBC • Aug. 15, 2023

Mr. Walker and his former girlfriend started their relationship around November 2008, according to her paternity suit.

From New York Times • Oct. 7, 2022

He became persona non grata after a string of romantic and marital scandals; an ugly paternity suit; accusations of Communist leanings; and an unholy, dirt-digging alliance between J. Edgar Hoover and gossip columnist Hedda Hopper.

From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 18, 2021

One woman even filed a paternity suit falsely claiming that Walter was the father of her child, a child that was born less than eight months after Walter's release.

From "Just Mercy" by Bryan Stevenson

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