plead
Americanverb (used without object)
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pleads,
present (3rd person singular)
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pleaded,
past participle, past
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pled,
past participle, past
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pleading
present participle
-
to appeal or entreat earnestly.
to plead for time.
- Synonyms:
- supplicate, beg
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to use arguments or persuasions, as with a person, for or against something.
She pleaded with him not to take the job.
- Synonyms:
- reason
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to afford an argument or appeal.
His youth pleads for him.
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Law.
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to make any allegation or plea in an action at law.
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to put forward an answer on the part of a defendant to a legal declaration or charge.
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to address a court as an advocate.
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Obsolete. to prosecute a suit or action at law.
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verb (used with object)
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pleads,
present (3rd person singular)
-
pleaded,
past participle, past
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pled,
past participle, past
-
pleading
present participle
-
to allege or urge in defense, justification, or excuse.
to plead ignorance.
- Synonyms:
- claim
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Law.
-
to maintain (a cause) by argument before a court.
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to allege or set forth (something) formally in an action at law.
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to allege or cite in legal defense.
to plead a statute of limitations.
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verb
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to appeal earnestly or humbly (to)
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(tr; may take a clause as object) to give as an excuse; offer in justification or extenuation
to plead ignorance
he pleaded that he was insane
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to provide an argument or appeal (for)
her beauty pleads for her
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law to declare oneself to be (guilty or not guilty) in answer to the charge
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law to advocate (a case) in a court of law
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(intr) law
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to file pleadings
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to address a court as an advocate
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Usage
What does plead mean? Plead means to beg or passionately try to persuade someone to do something. It’s similar to the word beg, which often means to request again and again. Plead can mean the same thing, but it’s especially used to imply that the request is passionate and that the person doing the pleading is desperate. It’s especially used in serious situations. A person might plead with their friend to get help with an addiction. You might plead with your teacher for more time to complete a project. Plead is used in a more specific way in a legal context, in which it means to declare one’s status in response to charges, especially to plead guilty or not guilty, as in How does the defendant plead? and My client pleads not guilty. It can also mean to argue something in court. The expression plead one’s case uses this sense of the word. Less commonly, plead can mean to offer as an excuse for or defense of one’s actions. When used this way, it’s typically followed by the specific excuse, as in, Don’t plead ignorance—you knew what you were doing. Plead has two past tense forms: pleaded and pled. The noun form of plead is plea. Example: When I was a kid, I was afraid of the dentist and used to plead with my mom not to make me go.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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pleadsimple
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pleadssimple
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have pleadedperfect
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have pledperfect
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has pleadedperfect
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has pledperfect
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am pleadingprogressive
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are pleadingprogressive
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is pleadingprogressive
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have been pleadingperfect progressive
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has been pleadingperfect progressive
Past
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pleadedsimple
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pledsimple
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had pleadedperfect
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had pledperfect
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was pleadingprogressive
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were pleadingprogressive
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had been pleadingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of plead
First recordd in 1200–50; Middle English plaiden, from< Old French plaid(i)er “to go to law, plead,” from early Medieval Latin placitāre “to litigate,” derivative of Latin placitum “opinion, agreed condition.” See plea
Explanation
To plead with someone is to try to convince them to see it your way. Your kids may plead with you to let them go on the super-huge outrageous roller coaster built in 1968, but you know better. The term plead comes from the word plea, which is from the legal system, where lawyers make a plea to the court and argue a case for their client. To plead is to ask for something from someone, often on the verge of begging. You may plead with the phone company to give an appointment time that spans only three hours, but, regardless of your pleading, they will make you wait eight hours for the technician to finally show.
Vocabulary lists containing plead
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Instead of "Said": Words for Asking and Offering
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Jackson said the officer will fight the charge and plead not guilty, and that the law only applies where the speakers have a reasonable expectation that what they say would not be overheard or recorded.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 31, 2026
One of the issues that has arisen since Zambada agreed to plead guilty has been where he will serve his sentence.
From BBC ● Jul. 20, 2026
"Despite being brought to the US in questionable circumstances, Mr. Zambada made the decision to accept responsibility and plead guilty," Zambada's lawyer Frank Perez said Monday.
From Barron's ● Jul. 20, 2026
Some of the prosecutors thought Alibaba should have been required to plead guilty, the people said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 19, 2026
Or if there’s some appeal process within the Fish and Wildlife Department, where I could plead her case...
From "Wayward Creatures" by Dayna Lorentz
Despite social media evidence to the contrary, Painter pleads he is "not always the culprit" when it comes to the pouring of ice buckets.
From BBC ● Aug. 10, 2026
"How could I know you and not have a clue?" she pleads.
From BBC ● Jul. 18, 2026
In 2017, he played opposite Hugh Jackman in “Logan” as a doctor who pleads with Wolverine to heal up.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 5, 2026
In Psalm 73, Asaph pleads with God, wondering why good men suffer while the wicked prosper.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 5, 2026
"Don't, favorite. I beg of you, don't," Astrid pleads.
From "The Belles" by Dhonielle Clayton
Davis has since backtracked and pleaded not guilty.
From Barron's ● Aug. 10, 2026
Long had already pleaded guilty to that offence.
From BBC ● Aug. 8, 2026
He pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor charge in 2019 of burning lands that belonged to another and paid $600 in court fees while serving 36 months of probation, according to court records.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 7, 2026
Three Late Stage Management executives pleaded guilty in March to charges of defrauding investors through hidden markups and fees.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 6, 2026
“I’ll go back,” Nim pleaded, “if you stop the boat.”
From "Nim’s Island" by Wendy Orr
In more recent cases, State Department intelligence analyst Walter Kendall Myers and former US ambassador to Bolivia Victor Manuel Rocha pled guilty in separate cases to spying for the communist country.
From Barron's ● Jul. 20, 2026
Sturgeon told the BBC's Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg: "I reject completely the notion that people were trying to alert the party to the kind of behaviour that Peter pled guilty to on Monday."
From BBC ● Jun. 1, 2026
“Mr. Zambada has not entered into any cooperation agreement, has not pled pursuant to any cooperation arrangement, and is not cooperating with the United States government in any capacity.”
From Los Angeles Times ● May 10, 2026
“It was not pled that way, it was not presented that way, and it was not tried that way.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 31, 2026
I pled, “There is no word of their sovereign family? Or a raid made upon the royal house of the Egba?”
From "The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume II: The Kingdom on the Waves" by M.T. Anderson
LA Jazz Festival was a major project for Ludlow, a former Los Angeles City Council member turned music promoter and community activist after pleading guilty to misappropriating funds in 2006.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 7, 2026
But his attempts to distinguish them read as special pleading.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 26, 2026
The newspaper said Farage had received support ahead of the 2024 election from Cottrell, who was jailed for eight months in the US in 2017 after pleading guilty to a charge of wire fraud.
From BBC ● Jul. 7, 2026
And in pleading guilty, Bolton admitted to having committed a crime.
From Slate ● Jun. 26, 2026
I check the clock on my phone, avoiding his pleading gaze.
From "Legendary Frybread Drive-In" by Cynthia Leitich Smith
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
