prípad

Prípad is a Slovak noun meaning case, occurrence, instance, or situation. It is masculine and widely used in both everyday language and technical discourse to designate a particular example within a larger context.

In legal discourse, prípad refers to a court case or legal matter that is under consideration or adjudication. In medicine and health sciences, it is used for a single patient’s clinical presentation or medical history, as in clinical or case reports. In statistics, epidemiology, and research, it denotes an observed instance, for example "počet prípadov" meaning the number of cases in a population. The plural form is prípady.

The term is cognate with Czech prípad and Polish przypadek, reflecting shared Slavic roots related to occurrence or happening. It is used in compound phrases such as prípadová štúdia (case study), v každom prípade (in any case), and in discussions of specific examples or scenarios.

In everyday Slovak, prípad also appears in idiomatic expressions to indicate a particular example or situation, and it commonly forms part of phrases distinguishing between different possible or hypothetical scenarios. The concept of a case is general and adaptable across disciplines, from law and medicine to research and instruction.