tort
part of speech
noun (a tort, torts) — law
meaning for a pupil
1) (law) A tort is a wrong done to someone, such as hurting them through carelessness or damaging their property, for which they can sue in a civil court for money (damages), even though it may not be a crime. tree →
2) It is not the same as «torte», a rich cake, or «taut», which means tight. tree →
sense in the lessons
In lessons about adult life and the law, it explains that if someone's carelessness hurts you (for example a shop leaves a wet floor with no sign and you fall), you may claim compensation; this is called negligence, a kind of tort. Phrases: «tort law», «the law of torts», «sue for a tort».
examples
- Negligence is a tort, like when a careless driver hits a parked car. tree →
- Tort law decides who must pay when someone is harmed. tree →
- Trespassing on land can be a tort. tree →
- A lawyer explained that the tort case was about a dog bite. tree →
- In a tort case, the winner usually gets money, not a prison sentence for the other side. tree →
- Spreading lies that harm someone's name can be a tort called defamation. tree →
note
Countable: a tort, torts. Formal legal word. A crime is punished by the state; a tort is a wrong for which the hurt person sues. Some acts can be both. Do not confuse with «torte» (a cake, from German) or «taught».
In the corpora
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «tort» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.