plaintiff

plaintiff — 名詞

1. the side in a civil court case who has started the lawsuit and is asking the cou

1.名詞C1
釋義

原告

民事訴訟中提起告訴的一方

the side in a civil court case who has started the lawsuit and is asking the court to decide that another party has wronged them or owes them money.

例句

The plaintiff in the case, a retired teacher named Mrs. Alvarez, asked the court for $50,000 in damages.

本案的原告 Mrs. Alvarez 是一位退休老師，她向法院請求五萬美元的損害賠償。

the plaintiff in [a case]

Lawyers for the plaintiff argued that the company had ignored safety warnings for years.

原告的律師主張，那家公司多年來一直忽視安全警告。

lawyers for the plaintiff

同義詞
  • claimant

    modern British legal term for the same role; replaced 'plaintiff' in English civil courts in 1999.

  • complainant

    the person who files a complaint; used in some tribunals and in criminal contexts where 'plaintiff' would be wrong.

  • petitioner

    narrower — someone who formally asks a court for a specific order, often in family or appeal cases.

反義詞
  • defendant

    the person being sued or accused; the opposite party in the same case.

  • respondent

    the party answering an appeal or petition; the opposite of 'petitioner'.

文法句型

the plaintiff in [a case]

plaintiff against [defendant]

用法筆記

Used only in civil cases (suing for money or a court order); the equivalent role in criminal cases is the prosecution, not the plaintiff. In modern British civil courts the official term is 'claimant' (changed in 1999), though 'plaintiff' is still widely understood and used in the United States and in older British texts.

常見錯誤

❌The plaintiff charged the man with murder.
✅The prosecutor charged the man with murder.
💡'plaintiff' is for civil suits; criminal cases have a 'prosecutor' or 'prosecution', not a plaintiff.
❌She was the plaintiff of the company.
✅She was the plaintiff in the lawsuit against the company.
💡the plaintiff stands 'in' a case or lawsuit, not 'of' an organisation.