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Glite Dictionary
legal injury

legal injury

7.1
Harm a court will accept as a reason to sue someone
  • noun
  • /ˈliːɡəl ˈɪndʒəri/
  • Formal
translation icon : lesión legal
  • The plaintiff suffered a legal injury due to negligence.

Examples

  • Without evidence of a legal injury, a lawsuit cannot proceed in this case.

  • You must demonstrate a legal injury to be entitled to damages under the law.

  • The court found that the plaintiff suffered a legal injury when his rights were violated.

  • Have you ever experienced a legal injury?

  • The company filed a lawsuit claiming legal injury after their intellectual property was unlawfully used by a competitor.

  • She sought compensation for the legal injury caused by the breach of her contract with the supplier.

  • The court evaluated the legal injury and determined that the victim was entitled to damages for her suffering.

Synonyms

damage
vslegal injury
∞ 1.0

Harm that makes something less useful, valuable, or healthy

is that loss only when caused by a rights violation fit for court action
harm
vslegal injury
820 1.0

A bad effect on people or things

is that hurt resulting from a rights violation and usable in court
injury
vslegal injury
  • Formal
94 2.3

Harm to a person's rights, reputation, or property that can lead to legal action

is the same but specifically qualifies as grounds for a court claim

How Severe

legal injury
  • Formal
7.1
harm
820 1.0

Surface Forms

legal injury singular
legal injuries plural

Morphology

legal + injury

The meaning is directly compositional: 'legal' (pertaining to law) modifies 'injury' (harm), so a learner who knows both words can infer it refers to harm recognized under the law or as grounds for a claim. Although somewhat formal legal jargon, it follows a regular adjective+noun pattern and is therefore readily understandable to B1 learners.

Etymology

Legal injury comes from the simple image of legal (the law) plus injury ('harm'): imagine someone breaks your bike and the law treats that harm as something it can act on, so you can ask a court to fix it. That's why legal injury means 'harm the law recognizes so you can ask the court for help'.