DictionaryAI

plead

verb
SayPLEED/plid/UK/pliːd/

Formspleads, pleading, pleaded

4 meanings of plead

Practice

  1. 1
    verbintransitive
    To beg or implore someone earnestly, often with strong emotion.

    The prisoners pleaded for mercy before the tribunal.

    Crowds gathered to plead with the governor for clemency.

    Similarbeg, ask, appeal, request, entreat

    Note

    Here the pleading is personal rather than procedural, and it runs on two prepositions: you plead with someone and plead for something, often both in one breath, as in she pleaded with the guard for more time. Unlike the courtroom sense, it takes no direct object. The person or the thing wanted always arrives through with or for.

  2. 2
    verbtransitive or intransitive
    To present an argument or formal plea, especially before a court in a legal case.

    The defense attorney pleaded the case skillfully over three days.

    He decided to plead guilty to the lesser charge.

    Similarargue, present, advocate

    Note

    The courtroom sense stays closest to the word's origin: Old French plaider, from Medieval Latin placitum, 'a decree, sentence, suit, plea'. In plead guilty and plead not guilty, the adjective works like a complement, describing the pleader much as it would after be. Pleaded is the general past tense. Pled is an alternative in Canada, Scotland and the US, as in he pled guilty.

  3. 3
    verbtransitive
    To offer something as an excuse or justification for one's conduct.

    The witness pleaded a faulty memory when questioned about the dates.

    Defendants often plead financial hardship to reduce their penalties.

    Similarclaim, allege, maintain

    Note

    Here the object is the reason itself, usually a bare noun naming a condition: plead illness, plead poverty. A that-clause also works, as in "it is no defense to plead that you were only obeying orders." The excuse is put forward, not proved. When the mayor of Leicester pleaded poverty to Prince Rupert, he still sent £500. Synonyms such as allege and claim show the same distance from the truth.

  4. 4
    verbtransitive
    To discuss or debate a matter by presenting arguments.

    Scholars pleaded the merits of the proposal late into the night.

    Every spring the neighbors plead the question of the boundary fence before the town council.

    Similarargue, debate, discuss, dispute

Practice

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Origin

It comes from Middle English pleden, from Old French plaider ("to plead, offer a plea"), from Medieval Latin placitum (a decree, plea, or opinion; literally "that which is pleasing"), from placere ("to please"). It is related to Spanish pleitear, "to litigate."