Meaning & use
court date
Last updated
Meaning
nouncountable
The scheduled day when someone must appear in a court of law for a legal case.
Grammar: Countable: use 'a court date' or 'court dates'. Often followed by 'for' plus the type of case.
Patterns
- a court date for something
- have a court date
- set a court date
- miss a court date
She has a court date next month for the traffic accident.
The judge set a court date for the trial in October.
He missed his court date and was fined.
Word forms
| plural | court dates |
|---|
Common combinations
- set a court date
- The judge will set a court date at the next hearing.
- miss a court date
- If you miss a court date, you could be arrested.
- court date for
- She has a court date for the robbery charge.
- upcoming court date
- He is preparing for his upcoming court date.
Synonyms and how they differ
- hearing
- A hearing is a court session, often before a judge, but it may not be the main trial; a court date is the specific day you must appear.
- trial date
- A trial date is specifically the day a trial begins, while a court date can be for any court appearance, including a preliminary hearing.
Commonly confused: court date or court day?
court date vs court day
Not a standard term. 'Court day' might refer to a day when courts are open, but 'court date' is the scheduled appearance.
Practice
Choose the correct sentence:
Choose one answer.
We use 'on' with days of the week: 'on Monday'. 'In' is used for months or years, 'at' for times, and 'by' means 'no later than', which does not fit here.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “court date”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.