prima facie
adjective [ before noun ]
law
formal or specialized us
/ˌpraɪ.mə ˈfeɪ.ʃi/ uk
/ˌpraɪ.mə ˈfeɪ.ʃi/Meaning of prima facie in English
(Definition of prima facie from the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary & Thesaurus © Cambridge University Press)
prima facie | Business English
They could only seek the information if there was a prima facie case of fraud to investigate.
Examples of prima facie
prima facie
Fishing expeditions' -- in other words speculative acts of intrusion or entrapment where the journalists do not have strong prima facie evidence of serious wrong-doing.
From Reuters
It was obvious to all that a prima facie case could be made for espionage, theft of government property and obstruction of justice charges.
From Washington Times
Isn't that prima facie evidence that the rag is rubbish?
From Phys.Org
As mentioned above, it is widely assumed that crime is increasing, and is prima facie evidence of a breakdown of public order and private morality.
From Huffington Post
If the minutes are merely labeled "final" but unsigned, they are not prima facie.
From Los Angeles Times
These aspirations are, prima facie, contradictory, but in fact they complete one another.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
Thus, the precedent has been that a senator-elect has a prima facie right to the seat, while the contest brought against him is being investigated.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
It goes far further than epistemic universalism which gives some prima facie weight to anyone's belief.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
To answer this, note that these views are only stating a sufficient condition for prima facie justification, i.e.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
Ethics committees and consultants may also invoke the law because they believe they have at least a prima facie duty to obey it.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
The law's claims can be distorted when attention is not paid to the kind of claim comprising the prima facie duty.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
Four uses are more acceptable: reasoning, debunking, implementation, and indicating prima facie duties.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
Third-trimester terminations are, therefore, prima facie wrong, even if the woman has not explicitly agreed to carry the pregnancy to term.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
So why should we not accept a prima facie duty of beneficence?
From the Cambridge English Corpus
The existence of idolatry is prima facie evidence that human beings have forfeited their rightful dominion to the animals over which they ought to rule.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
These examples are from corpora and from sources on the web. Any opinions in the examples do not represent the opinion of the Cambridge Dictionary editors or of Cambridge University Press or its licensors.
