advocated

1. 1
   verb

   Simple past and past participle of advocate.

   The senator advocated stronger protections for public lands.

   Doctors have long advocated regular exercise as a way to prevent disease.

   Note

   One -ed form serves as both past tense and participle here, as it does with any regular verb. After have it forms a perfect (doctors have advocated), after be a passive (the plan was advocated), and alone it is a simple past. It usually takes its object directly, as in advocated reform. It can also stand without an object, meaning simply that someone pleaded a cause. The courtroom uses survive too: a case may be advocated to the Court of Session.

2. 2
   adjective

   Recommended or argued in favor of by its supporters.

   The advocated approach gained support among the board members.

   Critics questioned whether the advocated reforms would work in practice.

   Similarrecommended, proposed, endorsed, favored

   Note

   Here the participle has moved in front of a noun, as in the advocated approach or the advocated reforms. It describes a proposal rather than reporting an act, and it often names what others champion without the speaker endorsing it. It does not grade, so nothing is more advocated than something else. When the supporters need naming, the phrasing shifts back to the verb form, as in reforms advocated by the union.

Showing meanings only. Show all 2