Definition of "case study" []

• A detailed analysis of a person or group, especially as a model of medical, psychiatric, psychological, or social phenomena. (noun)
• A detailed intensive study of a unit, such as a corporation or a corporate division, that stresses factors contributing to its success or failure. (noun)
• An exemplary or cautionary model; an instructive example: "Before they lost their independence, [the two companies] were case studies in unsuccessful long-term planning” ( T. Boone Pickens, Jr.) (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "If one were to watch the da Vinci away team materialize on the beach of the Monagas Lagoon, they would observe an interesting case study of differential behaviors of a multitude of species."
• "According to a twenty-four-week case study conducted by Dr. Michael Zemel, director of the Nutrition Institute at the University of Tennessee, more calcium consumed translated into more weight loss."
• "An illustration of this generalization is provided by a case study of implementation conducted by Professor Dorothy Leonard at the Harvard Business School."