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plead

verb

Simple meaning

Make an allegation in an action or other legal proceeding.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

pleed
US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈplid

This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.

IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

verb

  1. ambitransitivecopulative

    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

  2. ambitransitivecopulative

    To present (an argument or a plea), especially in a legal case.

  3. Offer as an excuse or plea

  4. transitive

    To offer by way of excuse.

  5. intransitive

    To beg, beseech, or implore, especially emotionally.

  6. transitive

    To discuss by arguments.

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
C1 · Advanced
Frequency
Uncommon
Typical Use
Neutral / general English

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: 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

Used this way, plead is a specialist word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. This is a legal use: the wording is institutional and carries a defined meaning in law rather than a loose everyday one.

Emotional tone
Neutral
Formality
Specialist/technical
Intensity
Not strongly marked
How common
Specialized
Connotation
Clinical and technical
Usage feel
Technical and specialized

Where it naturally appears

  • Law/legal
  • Government/politics
  • Academic writing

Usage note

In general conversation this sense usually needs explaining — outside its field, people reach for a plainer word.

Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.

More ways to use plead

  • “I pleaded with him to stop.”verb

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Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

plead ignoranceplead before

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Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Inflected forms

Grammatical variations of the same word.

  • pleadingnounInflected form

    A statement in legal and logical form stating something on behalf of a party to a legal proceeding.

Compound terms

Established multiword terms.

  • pleading in the alternativenounCompound term

    A pleading that alleges facts so separate that it is difficult to determine which facts the person intends to rely on.

  • affirmative pleadingnounCompound term

    Any defensive pleading that affirms facts rather than merely denying the facts alleged by the plaintiff.

  • special pleadingnounCompound term

    An argument that ignores all unfavorable evidence.

  • defective pleadingnounCompound term

    Any pleading that fails to conform in form or substance to minimum standards of accuracy or sufficiency.

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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.