plaintiff
Americannoun
-
plaintiffs
plural
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of plaintiff
First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English plaintif “complaining person,” noun use of the adjective; see plaintive
Explanation
In a courtroom, the plaintiff is the person or group who is accusing another person or group of some wrongdoing. If you’re the plaintiff, you are claiming that a law was broken, and you’re in court to present your case. The plaintiff accuses, the defendant tries to prove that accusation wrong. You’ve seen this relationship on television shows about lawyers, or maybe you’ve been to court yourself. The Old French root word translates as “complain” and the Latin root is literally “beating of the breast,” or explaining your grief in a dramatic way. Plaintiff shares roots with the adjective plaintive, which describes a sorrowful sound. The plaintiff made a plaintive cry when the defendant was declared not guilty.
Vocabulary lists containing plaintiff
Twelve Days in May
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A Tale of Two Cities
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Dred Scott v. Sandford (1857)
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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.
See Examples For:
Jay Vandegriff, a 69-year-old plaintiff in one of the U.S. lawsuits, started taking Ozempic to treat his Type 2 diabetes in November 2023.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 19, 2026
Defending Education, which sued UC in June 2026, is the sole plaintiff in the case.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 19, 2026
The plaintiff in particular, professor Alison Hoagland, said, I regularly walk through this park.
From Slate ● Sep. 11, 2026
"We know these armed groups must be subdued. But the question is: what do we do with these children?" plaintiff Roxemhberg Rozo, a political scientist and law student, told AFP.
From Barron's ● Sep. 3, 2026
“I was right next to the plaintiff when this incident occurred,” Danny says, standing next to me.
From "Marcus Vega Doesn't Speak Spanish" by Pablo Cartaya
The plaintiffs say they have suffered losses amounting to hundreds of millions of dollars from wildfires, flooding and other weather extremes and are seeking compensation.
From Barron's ● Oct. 2, 2026
Can you tell us what issues you centered in that brief, and just lay out what relief it was that the plaintiffs felt was so urgently needed?
From Slate ● Sep. 30, 2026
A law firm representing some of the plaintiffs said the decision had come "too late" for its clients.
From BBC ● Sep. 29, 2026
County attorneys responded to the plaintiffs with a letter asserting that they should have appealed the Planning Commission’s approval of the vested rights to the county Board of Supervisors within 90 days of the decision.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 27, 2026
Charles Langford, one of the lawyers for the plaintiffs, was deeply impressed by her presentation.
From "Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice" by Phillip Hoose
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
