litigated
UK[ˈlɪt.ɪ.ɡeɪt.ɪd]US[ˈlɪt̬.ə.ɡeɪ.t̬ɪd]
v
Past tense and past participle of litigate: To take a claim or dispute to a court of law for a settlement.
v
To be involved in a lawsuit.
Morpheme Breakdown
litig
ate
ed
litig
lawsuit
ate
verb suffix
ed
past tense suffix
Etymology
The word 'litigated' originates from the Latin verb litigare, meaning 'to dispute' or 'to go to law'. This Latin term itself is a compound of lis, litis (a lawsuit, quarrel) and agere (to do, to drive, to conduct). The literal sense was thus 'to conduct a lawsuit'. Entering English via legal Latin and Old French, the verb 'litigate' was formed by appending the Latinate verbal suffix '-ate' to the stem 'litig-'. The addition of the Old English-derived '-ed' creates the specific past form, completing a word that embodies a formal, legal process of resolving a dispute through judicial action, directly continuing its ancient Roman function.
Analysis
Structure: litig (lawsuit) + ate (verb suffix) + ed (past tense suffix)
- litig: From Latin litigare (to go to law, dispute), from lis, litis (lawsuit, quarrel). This is the core root conveying the sense of legal dispute.
- ate: A verb-forming suffix of Latin origin, indicating an action or process.
- ed: An inflectional suffix of Old English origin, marking the past tense or past participle form.
Examples
The company litigated the patent infringement case for several years before reaching a settlement.
Having litigated numerous civil rights cases, the attorney was highly respected in her field.
The matter was thoroughly litigated in federal court, establishing an important legal precedent.