What does "litigant" mean?

A party suing or being sued in a lawsuit, or otherwise calling upon the judicial process to determine the outcome of a suit.

What is a synonym for "litigant"?

Common synonyms include: accessory, accused, actionable, appellant, appellee, bitter-ender.

Litigant

//ˈlɪtɪɡənt// adj, noun

adj, noun ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun

1
A party suing or being sued in a lawsuit, or otherwise calling upon the judicial process to determine the outcome of a suit.
2
(law) a party to a lawsuit; someone involved in litigation wordnet

Adjective

1
Disposed to litigate; contending in law; engaged in a lawsuit.
"the parties litigant"

Synonyms

All synonyms

accessory accused actionable appellant appellee bitter-ender

Example

More examples

"The judge admonished the litigant, saying: “When I have decided on some issue in a case that I will be judging, that means the end of discussion, not the beginning of a dispute.”"

Etymology

From French litigant, from Middle French, from Latin litigans.

Related phrases

litigant in person

More for "litigant"

Synonyms Sentences Pronunciation Translate

Next best steps

Find stronger synonyms See usage examples Check pronunciation Browse writing guides

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.