An example or occurrence; something that happened to befall.

"Parents were asked to examine their children carefully because there were three cases of chicken pox in the school."

An incident investigated by law enforcement officers: Mr. Higgins was made the official suspects in the case involving a legal inquiry.

A case can also be a single charging document under the jurisdiction of a court or a single defendant.

Crowded court dockets or files in either juvenile court or criminal court: Case backlogs describe a massive buildup of cases, where judges can not hear all cases in a timely fashion.

A record of a particular patient's illness and treatment, often used in medical texts for the purpose of teaching or illustrating a medical concept.

Legal opinions having the status of law as enunciated by the courts: The U.S. Supreme Court decisions become case laws and governing cases when identical or very similar cases are subsequently heard in lower courts.

The procedure of dealing with and managing various complex cases involves many steps: Such case processing can include disability claims, unemployment claims, and legal cases.

The media coverage regarding a particular legal case that occurs before the trial begins: Direct familiarity with information relating to the actual events or of a certain criminal are presented through case-specific pretrial publicity.