lawsuit vs proceeding

lawsuit and proceeding both are nouns.

Word	Noun	Adjective	Verb	Adverb
lawsuit	Yes	No	No	No
proceeding	Yes	No	No	No

As nouns, proceeding is a hypernym of lawsuit; that is, proceeding is a word with a broader meaning than lawsuit:

lawsuit: a comprehensive term for any proceeding in a court of law whereby an individual seeks a legal remedy
proceeding: (law) the institution of a sequence of steps by which legal judgments are invoked

Other hypernyms of lawsuit include legal proceeding, proceedings.

lawsuit (noun)	proceeding (noun)
a comprehensive term for any proceeding in a court of law whereby an individual seeks a legal remedy	(law) the institution of a sequence of steps by which legal judgments are invoked