litigation
noun
lit·i·ga·tion
ˌli-tə-ˈgā-shən 
plural litigations
: the act, process, or practice of settling a dispute in a court of law : the act or process of litigating
an issue that has been in litigation for years
an attorney who specializes in the litigation of property disputes
The American Judicial System generally limits the filing of lawsuits to individuals with a personal stake in the litigation, but there are instances when litigants cannot themselves prosecute an action.—
Jonathan Mahler
Jonathan Mahler
also
: a legal action or proceeding (such as a lawsuit)
"You can't realize how much it costs to run one of these litigations. To get a battery of lawyers into a courtroom and do all the planning … and so on costs $500,000." —Gordon Gould
Gordon Gould Examples of litigation in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
But the toolbox for Democrats is relatively sparse, aside from litigation or legislative protests.
—New York Times, 24 July 2025
Ongoing litigation includes Disney and Universal suing image generation tool Midjourney, the New York Times squaring up against ChatGPT owner OpenAI and Microsoft, and the Wall Street Journal and New York Post versus AI startup Perplexity.
—John Kell, Fortune, 23 July 2025
Regarding the lawsuit, a Roblox spokesperson declined to comment on pending litigation but emphasized the company’s commitment to child safety.
—Alison Escalante, Forbes.com, 23 July 2025
The city of Detroit's Corporation Counsel Conrad Mallett indicated through a city spokesman that the city will not be commenting on pending litigation.
—Christina Hall, Freep.com, 23 July 2025
See All Example Sentences for litigation
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
New York Times, 24 July 2025
Ongoing litigation includes Disney and Universal suing image generation tool Midjourney, the New York Times squaring up against ChatGPT owner OpenAI and Microsoft, and the Wall Street Journal and New York Post versus AI startup Perplexity.
—John Kell, Fortune, 23 July 2025
Regarding the lawsuit, a Roblox spokesperson declined to comment on pending litigation but emphasized the company’s commitment to child safety.
—Alison Escalante, Forbes.com, 23 July 2025
The city of Detroit's Corporation Counsel Conrad Mallett indicated through a city spokesman that the city will not be commenting on pending litigation.
—Christina Hall, Freep.com, 23 July 2025
See All Example Sentences for litigation
Cite this Entry
“Litigation.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/litigation. Accessed 29 Jul. 2025.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share