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This is a part of an article about "Paula Jones" from Wikipedia

"Paula Corbin Jones (born Paula Rosalee Corbin; September 17, 1966) is an American civil servant. A former Arkansas state employee, Jones sued United States President Bill Clinton for sexual harassment in 1994. In the initial lawsuit, Jones cited Clinton for sexual harassment at the Excelsior Hotel in Little Rock, Arkansas on May 8, 1991."

"cite"

to call upon officially or authoritatively to appear as before a court

This could be the sense here but I doubt it because It's the judge who summons someone before the court and not the plaintiff. Am I right?

"cite"

  1. To mention or bring forward as support, illustration, or proof: cited several instances of insubordinate behavior. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language)

This is the definition I lean toward. My doubt stems from the qualification "as support, illustration, or proof" in the definition. If Jones only mentioned that Clinton sexually harassed her, it makes sense to me because she isn't providing any evidence for it, she is just saying that he did it.

"cite"

4 British English to mention someone by name in a court case Sue was cited in the divorce proceedings(Longman Dictionary)

This one is also probable but as the article is about American politics I suppose it was written by an American.

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  • In US and UK English, not just judges, but parties in civil cases, and lawyers can 'cite' persons, see Cambridge Dictionary 'LAW - specialised - to officially name or mention someone or something in a law court, or to officially request someone to appear in a court of law'. Example given: He has been cited as the co-respondent in the divorce case.
    – Michael Harvey
    Commented Nov 8, 2022 at 20:32

1 Answer 1

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In US and UK English, not just judges, but parties in civil cases (where people sue), and lawyers can 'cite' things or persons:

cite verb [T] (NAME)
LAW specialized

to officially name or mention someone or something in a law court, or to officially request someone to appear in a court of law:

The lawyer cited two similar cases.
He has been cited as the co-respondent in the divorce case.

Cite (Cambridge Dictionary)

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  • Yes, thank you, I didn't know that. I'm not surprised because even the definition you provided doesn't specify who is requesting " the presence of someone, and the logical assumption is to suppose it's someone who has such a power(as a judge or magistrate).I guess it's pretty much the same in other dictionaries.
    – Static Bounce
    Commented Nov 8, 2022 at 20:44
  • In your last comment in both cases you are talking about the sens of the word "cite" meaning "mention", but I meant that only a judge has the capacity to "cite" meaning "summon" someone to appear in court. Also, I thought the second example about the co-respondent meant precisely that(to summon). The definition includes two senses of the word and I thought it would also contain two example sentences(one with each connotation)
    – Static Bounce
    Commented Nov 8, 2022 at 22:01
  • @ Michael Harvey So just to clarify. Did you mean that "Jones cited Clinton for sexual harassment" means that she "mentioned him as someone who sexually assaulted her", in your answer?
    – Static Bounce
    Commented Nov 8, 2022 at 22:17
  • Even outside of the field of law, "cite" still means "mention" in journalism and science. "Anna cited Jeff in her article about chimps." is equivalent to "Anna mentioned and/or gave credit to Jeff in her article about chimps." It would be incorrect to assume that "cite" means "summon" in the examples I and OP gave.
    – Stev
    Commented Sep 3 at 16:46

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