in case

1. 1.

   if there happens to be need

   “in case of trouble call 911”

   “I have money, just in case”

   Synonymsjust in case

Questions about in case

What does in case mean?

in case means "if there happens to be need".

What is another word for in case?

Close synonyms include just in case. Each sense on this page lists its own synonyms, because a word with several meanings rarely has one substitute that works for all of them.

Is in case a common word?

in case is banded "Uncommon" — turns up in careful writing rather than conversation. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.