Synonyms for plead
plidplead

English Synonyms and AntonymsRate these synonyms:2.7 / 3 votes

1. plead

   To plead for one is to employ argument or persuasion, or both in his behalf, usually with earnestness or importunity; similarly one may be said to plead for himself or for a cause, etc., or with direct object, to plead a case; in legal usage, pleading is argumentative, but in popular usage, pleading always implies some appeal to the feelings. One argues a case solely on rational grounds and supposably with fair consideration of both sides; he advocates one side for the purpose of carrying it, and under the influence of motives that may range all the way from cold self-interest to the highest and noblest impulses; he pleads a cause, or pleads for a person with still more intense feeling. Beseech, entreat, and implore imply impassioned earnestness, with direct and tender appeal to personal considerations. Press and urge imply more determined or perhaps authoritative insistence. Solicit is a weak word denoting merely an attempt to secure one's consent or cooperation, sometimes by sordid or corrupt motives.

   Synonyms:
   advocate, argue, ask, beg, beseech, entreat, implore, press, solicit, urge

   Preposition:
   Plead with the tyrant for the captive; plead against the oppression or the oppressor; plead to the indictment; at the bar; before the court; in open court.

Princeton's WordNet

1. pleadverb

   appeal or request earnestly

   "I pleaded with him to stop"

2. pleadverb

   offer as an excuse or plea

   "She was pleading insanity"

3. pleadverb

   enter a plea, as in courts of law

   "She pleaded not guilty"

4. pleadverb

   make an allegation in an action or other legal proceeding, especially answer the previous pleading of the other party by denying facts therein stated or by alleging new facts

Matched Categories

1. • Allege
   • Appeal
   • Declare
   • Excuse
   • Law

Dictionary of English SynonymesRate these synonyms:1.0 / 1 vote

1. pleadverb

   Synonyms:
   (Law.) make an allegation, carry on a suit

2. pleadverb

   Synonyms:
   reason, argue, offer reasons, use arguments

3. pleadverb

   Synonyms:
   apologize, offer apology or justification, make defence

4. pleadverb

   Synonyms:
   allege, offer in excuse

5. pleadverb

   Synonyms:
   argue, discuss, defend, maintain by arguments

Synonyms, Antonyms & Associated WordsRate these synonyms:0.0 / 0 votes

1. pleadverb

   Synonyms:
   reason, argue, apologize, defend, advocate, intercede

PPDB, the paraphrase databaseRate these paraphrases:0.0 / 0 votes

1. List of paraphrases for "plead":

   invoke, argue, advocate

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How to use plead in a sentence?

1. Elizabeth Warren:

   When banks plead guilty to a crime, federal agencies must do more than look the other way, the SEC has already granted waivers to each of these banks without any detailed explanation, but it is not too late for the Department of Labor to hold a public hearing before it decides that such brazen lawbreakers can be trusted managing workers' retirement accounts.

2. Flavio Volpe:

   How do you get a bully to back off when their foot is on your neck? Do you plead with them or do you bite the foot?

3. John Selden:

   Ignorance of the law excuses no man Not that all men know the law, but because 'tis an excuse every man will plead, and no man can tell how to refute him.

4. John Milton:

   ... If weakness may excuse, What Murderer, what Traitor, Parricide, Incestuous, sacrilegious, but may plead it All Wickedness is Weakness That plea therefore With God or Man will gain thee no Remission.

5. William Lloyd Garrison:

   With reasonable men, I will reason; with humane men I will plead; but to tyrants I will give no quarter, nor waste arguments where they will certainly be lost.