case in point

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /keɪs ɪn pɔɪnt/
• Rhymes: -ɔɪnt

Noun

case in point (plural cases in point)

1. An example that illustrates a point.
   • 1837, Ellen Marriage, The Two Poets, translation of original by Honoré de Balzac:

     But philosophers inform us that old age is apt to revert to the habits of youth, and Sechard senior is a case in point—the older he grew, the better he loved to drink.

   • 1945 July and August, “The Why and The Wherefore: Station Turntables”, in Railway Magazine, page 241, reply to J. A. Drew:

     The old Ramsgate Harbour station of the one-time South Eastern Railway was a case in point, as also the stations in the Isle of Wight that you name, such as Ventnor West.

   • 1977, Thomas P. Bernstein, “The Stability of the Settlement”, in Up to the Mountains and Down to the Villages: The Transfer of Youth from Urban to Rural China‎^[1], Yale University Press, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 258:

     Reassignment can rekindle the yearning for city life in UYs who have spent many years in the villages. A case in point is that of a young woman who settled in Ch’ien-chiang county, Hupei, in 1965, having come from Wuhan. She did well, joined the CCP in 1966, and became YCL branch secretary.

   • 1996, Lena H. Sun, “China Seeks Ways to Protect Elderly; Support Agreements Replacing Traditional Respect for the Aged”, in Ourselves and Others: The Washington Post Sociology Companion‎^[2], 2nd edition, Needham Heights, MA: Allyn and Bacon, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 131:

     To help protect the rights of the elderly, particularly in rural areas, some localities have begun requiring contracts of support between elderly parents and their children. A case in point is the village of Tiezu, or Iron Mouth in English, located in Qindu county on the outskirts of Xianyang, a former ancient capital of China in central Shaanxi province.
     Starting this year, newlyweds in Qindu district have been required to sign contracts pledging to support their parents after age 60.

   • 2020 April 12, Simon Tisdall, “US's global reputation hits rock-bottom over Trump's coronavirus response”, in The Guardian‎^[3]:

     The furious reaction in Germany after 200,000 protective masks destined for Berlin mysteriously went missing in Thailand and were allegedly redirected to the US is a case in point. There is no solid proof Trump approved the heist. But it’s the sort of thing he would do – or so people believe.

   • For more quotations using this term, see Citations:case in point.

Synonyms

• example in point
• (an example that illustrates a point): precedent, example, instance, illustration, representative

Translations

example that illustrates a point

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 案例 (zh) (ànlì), 例子 (zh) (lìzi), 實例／实例 (zh) (shílì)

• Danish: please add this translation if you can
• Finnish: esimerkki (fi)
• French: cas d’exemple m, parfait exemple m, cas d’école (fr) m
• German: ein typisches Beispiel n, ein einschlägiger Fall n
• Icelandic: dæmi (is) n
• Indonesian: contoh maksud
• Portuguese: caso exemplar m, exemplo claro m
• Spanish: ejemplo (es)

See also

• make a point

References

• Case in point, World Wide Words
• “a case in point”, in Collins English Dictionary.