just in case

English

WOTD – 17 December 2007

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, US) IPA^(key): /ˌdʒʌst ɪn ˈkeɪs/

• Audio (US)

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• Audio (AU)

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Adverb

just in case (not comparable)

1. (idiomatic) To provide for the possible event that; as in case but with the possibility of the occurrence being more remote.

   I'll take an umbrella, just in case. [or: ...just in case it rains.]

   • 1629, Roger Williams et al., The Correspondence of Roger Williams, Brown University Press (reprinted 1988, →ISBN, page 204,

     Dudley and his council "gave no credit to these suspicions" but decided to strengthen the colony's defenses just in case the rumors turned out to be true.

   • 1981, John H. G. Pell, "General George Washington's Visit to Fort Ticonderoga in July 1783", Bulletin of the Fort Ticonderoga Museum, Volume XIV, Number 1, Summer 1981, Fort Ticonderoga Museum, page 260,

     Throughout 1782 and most of 1783 there was a mixture of defacto [sic] peace but preparedness for war just in case it should be resumed, a sort of cold war.

Conjunction

just in case

1. (logic) if and only if

   The negation of a disjunction is true just in case both disjuncts are false.

Translations

in the event

• Arabic: تَحَسُبًا (taḥasuban)
• Azerbaijani: hər ehtimala qarşı
• Basque: badaezpada, badaezpada ere
• Bulgarian: за всеки случай (za vseki slučaj)
• Catalan: per si de cas (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 以防萬一／以防万一 (zh) (yǐfángwànyī)

• Czech: kdyby něco, pro jistotu, co kdyby
• Dutch: voor de zekerheid
• Esperanto: divenprove
• Finnish: varalta (fi)
• French: au cas où (fr), par acquit de conscience (fr)
• Georgian: ყოველი შემთხვევისთვის (q̇oveli šemtxvevistvis), იმ შემთხვევაში, თუ (im šemtxvevaši, tu)
• German: für alle Fälle, nur für den Fall, sicherheitshalber (de), vorsichtshalber (de)
• Greek: για κάθε ενδεχόμενο (gia káthe endechómeno)
• Japanese: 念のため (nen no tame)
• Lithuanian: dėl viso pikto
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: for sikkerhets skyld, bare i tilfelle

  Nynorsk: berre i tilfelle

• Polish: na wszelki wypadek (pl), w razie czego
• Portuguese: por precaução, por via das dúvidas (pt)
• Russian: на вся́кий слу́чай (ru) (na vsjákij slúčaj), на вся́кий пожа́рный слу́чай (na vsjákij požárnyj slúčaj), на вся́кий пожа́рный (na vsjákij požárnyj)
• Spanish: por si acaso (es), por si las moscas (es)
• Swedish: bara utifall att, bara i fall att
• Ukrainian: про всяк випа́док (pro vsjak vypádok)