 The term "well-founded fear" has no precise definition in asylum law.In "INS v. Cardoza-Fonseca", , the Supreme Court avoided attaching a consistent definition to the term, preferring instead to allow the meaning to evolve through case-by-case determinations.However, in "Cardoza-Fonseca", the Court did establish that a "well-founded" fear is something less than a "clear probability" that the applicant will suffer persecution.