plaintiff
/ˈpleɪntɪf/ noun
Forms plaintiffs
- noun (law, UK historical, otherwise current) A party bringing a suit in civil law against a defendant; accuser.
Synonyms
Antonyms
Etymology
From Middle English plaintif, from Anglo-Norman, from Old French plaintif (“complaining”; as a noun, “one who complains, a plaintiff”) from the verb plaindre. Doublet of plaintive.
Webster’s 1913
- noun One who commences a personal action or suit to obtain a remedy for an injury to his rights; --opposed to Ant: defendant.
- adjective See Plaintive. [Obs.] Prior.
Etymology [F. plaintif making complaint, plaintive; in Old French equiv. to plaignant complainant, prosecutor, fr. plaindre. See Plaint, and cf. Plaintive.]
Sources: Wiktionary · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “plaintiff”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details