Meanings
- As is appropriate to the circumstances; particularly where a choice must be made between two options.
So when a judge uses the transitive verb recuse, shouldn’t he (or she, as the case may be, and nobody says “as the case may be” anymore) use a reflexive pronoun as the object?
2004 July 4, William Safire, “On Language: 7/4/Oratory”, in The New York Times Magazine, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 28 May 20151 more example
The Inspector shall convene a special meeting of the district panchayat or panchayat union council or village panchayat, as the case may be, and place the resignation notice for information within fifteen days from the date of receipt of resignation notice before the district panchayat or panchayat union council or village panchayat as the case may be.
2007, Ganapathy Palanithurai, A Handbook for Panchayati Raj Administration (Tamil Nadu), page 100
Translations
Chinese Mandarin 不管是什麼情況 /不管是什么情况
- 不管是什麼情況 /不管是什么情况 (bùguǎn shì shénme qíngkuàng)as in appropriate to the circumstances
Finnish tapauksen mukaan, tapauksesta riippuen
- tapauksen mukaanas in appropriate to the circumstances
- tapauksesta riippuenas in appropriate to the circumstances
French le cas échéant, selon le cas
- le cas échéantas in appropriate to the circumstances
- selon le casas in appropriate to the circumstances
Polish w zależności od okoliczności
- w zależności od okolicznościas in appropriate to the circumstances
Cite this entry
as the case may be. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/as%20the%20case%20may%20be
“as the case may be.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/as%20the%20case%20may%20be. Accessed November 5, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “as the case may be,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/as%20the%20case%20may%20be.
Source: as the case may be on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.