The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 4 letter word CASE
I've seen this crossword clue in The Times
C
A
S
E
More clues leading to the result CASE
- Patient / investigation
- Aces high, for example
- Bizarre character / one receiving treatment
- Touchy after legal proceedings seeing H and h as different?
- Argument, something that’s unpacked in lawsuit
- Check out ancient coin in church
- Salesman might travel with this suit
- Shell is something for detective to crack
- It’s made to hold a medical patient, say
- Hull husband abandons hunt
Buddy explains!

The straight part
We know that "example" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case example = case.The cryptic/wordplay part
In cryptic crossword there's often an wordplay/cryptic part as well.This part involves a more complex hint, such as an anagram, homophone, hidden word, etc.
Sadly, We don't have an explanation for this specific crossword clue yet.
What does CASE mean?
CASE noun- An actual event, situation, or fact.
- A given condition or state.
- A piece of work, specifically defined within a profession.
- (academia) An instance or event as a topic of study.
- A legal proceeding, lawsuit.
- (grammar) A specific inflection of a word depending on its function in the sentence.
- (grammar) Grammatical cases and their meanings taken either as a topic in general or within a specific language.
- An instance of a specific condition or set of symptoms.
- A section of code representing one of the actions of a conditional switch.
- To propose hypothetical cases.
- A box that contains or can contain a number of identical items of manufacture.
- A box, sheath, or covering generally.
- A piece of luggage that can be used to transport an apparatus such as a sewing machine.
- An enclosing frame or casing.
- A suitcase.
- A piece of furniture, constructed partially of transparent glass or plastic, within which items can be displayed.
- The outer covering or framework of a piece of apparatus such as a computer.
- A shallow tray divided into compartments or "boxes" for holding type, traditionally arranged in sets of two, the "upper case" (containing capitals, small capitals, accented) and "lower case" (small letters, figures, punctuation marks, quadrats, and spaces).
- (by extension) The nature of a piece of alphabetic type, whether a “capital” (upper case) or “small” (lower case) letter.
- Four of a kind.
- A unit of liquid measure used to measure sales in the beverage industry, equivalent to 192 fluid ounces.
- A small fissure which admits water into the workings.
- A thin layer of harder metal on the surface of an object whose deeper metal is allowed to remain soft.
- A cardboard box that holds (usually 24) beer bottles or cans.
- To place (an item or items of manufacture) into a box, as in preparation for shipment.
- To cover or protect with, or as if with, a case; to enclose.
- To survey (a building or other location) surreptitiously, as in preparation for a robbery.
- The last remaining card of a particular rank.