# plea

Pronunciation: US say "PLEE" /pli/; UK

## Noun

1. An earnest appeal or request, often urgent, asking someone for help, mercy, or support.
   - Simple: An urgent request that asks someone for help, mercy, or support.
   - _The charity's plea for donations drew an overwhelming response._
   - _He ignored every plea to slow down and take a rest._
2. A statement or claim put forward by a party in a legal case to support their position.
   - Simple: A claim or reason that someone gives in court to support their side of a case.
   - _Counsel's plea laid out every fact that supported the company's claim._
   - _The court weighed each plea offered in support of the rival claims._
3. The defendant's formal answer to the plaintiff's declaration and demand in a lawsuit.
   - Simple: In a court case, the answer a defendant gives to the claims made against them.
   - _The defendant's plea responded point by point to the plaintiff's demand._
   - _His plea admitted the debt but disputed the amount owed._
4. An excuse or apology offered to explain or justify one's actions.
   - Simple: An excuse a person gives to explain or defend what they did.
   - _He muttered some plea about traffic to excuse his lateness._
   - _Her only plea was that she hadn't understood the instructions._
5. Something alleged or argued in one's defense or to justify an action.
   - Simple: A claim or reason someone offers to defend or justify what they did.
   - _The accused offered necessity as his plea, claiming he had no other choice._
   - _Their plea rested on the argument that the rules themselves were unfair._
6. An allegation of fact in a legal case, as distinguished from a challenge to the legal sufficiency of the opposing claim.
   - Simple: In a lawsuit, a statement claiming certain facts are true, rather than arguing about the law.
   - _Counsel entered a plea asserting that the goods had been delivered on time._
   - _Rather than demurring, she filed a plea disputing the facts of the case._
7. A cause or suit brought before a court, as preserved in the name Court of Common Pleas.
   - Simple: A legal case or lawsuit brought before a court.
   - _The plea between the two landowners was transferred to a higher court._
   - _Civil pleas of this kind were once heard separately from criminal matters._

## Verb

8. To plead or argue, as in presenting a cause before others. *(dialectal, England, Scotland)*
   - Simple: To argue or make a case for something, especially before a court or council.
   - _The villagers came to plea their cause before the laird._
   - _Each spring the tenants plea for lower rents on their plots._

## Origin

From Middle English ple, from Old French plait or plaid, from Medieval Latin placitum (a decree, sentence, or suit; literally "that which is pleasing"), from placere ("to please"). It is related to Spanish pleito ("lawsuit") and shares a root with please and pleasure.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/plea (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).