Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. Law The party that institutes a suit in a court.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. In law, the person who begins a suit before a tribunal for the recovery of a claim: opposed to defendant.
- Complaining.
Wiktionary
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. (Law) One who commences a personal action or suit to obtain a remedy for an injury to his rights; -- opposed to
defendant . - adj. obsolete See plaintive.
WordNet 3.0
- n. a person who brings an action in a court of law
Etymologies
- From Middle English plaintif, from Old French plaintif ("complaining; as a noun, one who complains, a plaintiff") from the verb plaindre. See plaintive. (Wiktionary)
- Middle English plaintif, from Anglo-Norman pleintif, from Old French plaintif, aggrieved; see plaintive. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“That defendant gave to A. twelvepence to pay plaintiff in fuU/atisfaaiom, which plaintiff* received.”
“Kristin Perry, 45, is the title plaintiff in the case registered on legal dockets as Perry v. Schwarzenegger.”
“When a plaintiff is able to prove defamation per se, damages are presumed, but the presumption is rebuttable.”
“Nonetheless, the underlying rationale of Hustler, and especially of the passage quoted above, applies to all speech on matters of public concern — whether the plaintiff is a public figure or a private figure, and whether the speech is about a public figure, a private figure, or no particular person atall.”
The Volokh Conspiracy » My Short Essay on Snyder v. Phelps, Part I: The Wisdom of Hustler v. Falwell
“In 1656, in the “Court of trials of the Colony of Providence Plantations,” in an “action … of detenew for detaining certaine … horsis and mares,” the court “fownd in the Plaintifs declaration a Verball oversight”; the word plaintiff “should have beine writ defendant.””
“The most a judge should award the plaintiff is the amount it would cost a person who lost the same CD from a rental store.”
“This case had already been tried at the last Court Session, and the protocols of the former suit are being read; therefore one learns that the plaintiff is a poor farmer's daughter and the defendant is a married man.”
“Therefore, the "plaintiff" is society/the state and not the victim.”
Reader poll: Send Roman Polanski to prison? (Jack Bog's Blog)
“The other named plaintiff is a California resident who bought StarCaps for over four years because it was represented as an all-natural dietary supplement.”
“The lead plaintiff is a pension fund that purchased shares of Swiss Re's common stock on a foreign exchange.”
The Wall Street Journal: Judge Throws Out Suit Against Swiss Re
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘plaintiff’.
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Words from Blood Meridian
visage, affray, scullery, miasma, mirth, purlieu, tacit, benighted, wickiup, corral, amble, accoutre and 210 more...
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EN - eloquence in public speaking
Key words from "The Training of a Public Speaker" by Grenville Kleiser (New York and London, 1920)
beget, imago, Vespasian, languid, studied, judgment, dwindle, artifice, contribute, observe, sonorous, gladiator and 264 more...
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JURI - courtroom speak
Legal glossary with special focus on courtroom vocabulary
accused, acquittal, ADA, adjournment, adjudication, affidavit, affirmed, aggravated range, aggravating factors, allegation, alleged, answer and 794 more...
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January 2012
bloviate, pastiche, apparat, facile, paroxysm, pique, bedfellow, pedigree, tutelage, protege, protégé, retroactive and 196 more...
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Law
common law, defense, plea, defendant, plaintiff, argument, law, grant, subpoena, tarnish, estoppel, replevin and 5 more...
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SAT_RW
bigot, remuneration, kindle, noxious, abhor, placid, enfranchise, counterfeit, hamper, Abrasive, bilk, covert and 87 more...
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Law
http://www.jud.ct.gov/legalterms.htm
modus operandi, habeas corpus, extradite, extradited, injunction, voir dire, affidavit, preliminary injun..., plaintiff
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Vocab
Words that I come across, and go blank, or want to clarify.
nefarious, edifice, malevolent, ostensible, folderol, bauble, livid, amnesty, calculus, saddlery, maisonette, cuisse and 423 more...
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newGRE
mostly from magoosh
imbue, verge on, nonchalant, deliberate, timorous, futile, provisional, dissect, checked, tinged, alluring, visionary and 1046 more...
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Basic English Vocabulary
Very basic words for ESL students.
a, abandon, ability, able, abortion, about, above, abroad, absence, absolute, absolutely, absorb and 4334 more...
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Nick Yeow’s Words
Recently learned words that I like.
pharmaceutical, bowdlerise, connoisseur, cognoscenti, ostracise, aforementioned, antepenultimate, concatenate, extraterrestrial, psychiatrist, firmament, gastronomical and 100 more...
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I am the law!
Words I learnt at law school
appeal, blackletter, contract, dictum, headnote, judgment, litigation, malfeasance, negligence, plaintiff, quantum, remedy and 216 more...
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5-0
Hecko, words! I’m so happy I’ve found you. I want to keep you all and never want to lose you again. I hope you like it here.
amscray, thistledown, tine, tinsel, pungent, snarl, wail, lanky, viscid, dawdle, luminous, stow and 2719 more...
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random
words I read but don't know
nascent, proxy, desultory, charlatan, churlish, emaciated, gaudy, shill, lurid, frisson, marauding, plunder and 610 more...
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SAT Words
bigot, counterfeit, abhor, talisman, remuneration, placid, noxious, kindle, hamper, enfranchise, tangent, renown and 278 more...
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barfi
turpentine, cognate, connotation, denotation, bias, unflinching, emptive, mob, amnesty, modestly, spear, incline and 150 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for plaintiff.
bilby If on the other hand you're having an unusually large tiff, you will of course need a bigger word as well. Oct 30, 2008
qroqqa Quite right: I had first thought 'English law' would be specific enough, but changed my mind and came back to add 'England and Wales' to my first posting. 'English law', while it is unlikely to mean "English-language law", is still rather vague about jurisdictions. Aug 18, 2008
super-logos still used in American courts. "Claimant" is often seen in claims involving administrative law in the US. Aug 18, 2008
qroqqa English law term, replaced by 'claimant' in 1999 (in England and Wales). Aug 18, 2008