entreaty
Americannoun
noun
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of entreaty
Explanation
"Ain't too proud to beg" is what the word entreaty is all about. When you make an entreaty, you're begging or pleading for something. An entreaty is the kind of request you make to King Kong when he's dangling you from the top of the Empire State Building. It's an appeal you make to someone who usually has the power to grant your wish. Entreaty is often used in the plural: "After all my pleas and entreaties, my teacher still gave me a C."
Vocabulary lists containing entreaty
Pride and Prejudice
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Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass
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A Christmas Carol
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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.
There’s also a tangible entreaty for global communities to lean on the networks and relationships they have—with their neighbors, schools, civil organizations, governments, and corporations—and address an issue everyone agrees we should be worried about.
From Slate • May 28, 2026
Producer Patrick Spence also made an impassioned entreaty: "It's not over. We beg you... get the story out."
From BBC • May 11, 2025
What’s a critic to do in the face of such a courteous entreaty?
From Los Angeles Times • Sep. 22, 2023
But like nearly every community confronting a third pandemic winter, the entreaty is just that — a plea.
From Washington Post • Dec. 22, 2022
He shook his head quickly, eyes shut, as if entreaty were more than he could bear.
From "The Secret History" by Donna Tartt
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.
