Showing results for "pleading"

• present participle of plead.

pleading

American  

[plee-ding] / ˈpli dɪŋ /

noun

• pleadings
  plural

1. the act of a person who pleads.

2. Law.

   1. the advocating of a cause in a court of law.

   2. the art or science of setting forth or drawing pleas in legal causes.

   3. a formal statement, usually written, setting forth the cause of action or defense of a case.

   4. pleadings, the successive statements delivered alternately by plaintiff and defendant until the issue is joined.

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pleading British  

/ ˈpliːdɪŋ /

noun

1. the act of presenting a case in court, as by a lawyer on behalf of his client

2. the art or science of preparing the formal written statements of the parties to a legal action See also pleadings

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• pleadingness
  noun
• nonpleading
  adjective
• unpleading
  adjective
• nonpleadingly
  adverb
• pleadingly
  adverb

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• pleadings
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of pleading

1250–1300; Middle English pledynge (gerund). See plead, -ing ¹

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

pleading pleadings

Bittar was jailed in 2018 after pleading guilty and served two years in prison.

From BBC ● Oct. 7, 2026

He resists Anna Magdalena’s urgent pleading that he accede to the invitation from Frederick to visit him at his Potsdam court.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 24, 2026

Throughout the crisis, Kiritsis made live calls to Fred Heckman, a local AM radio news broadcaster, pleading to listeners for the justice he believed he was due.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 18, 2026

Then she saw the video of him pleading with the police when they first accused him of the break-in.

From Slate ● Sep. 17, 2026

The way they look at her, the pleading glances and tear-streaked stares.

From "The Night Circus" by Erin Morgenstern

In pleadings filed in the researchers’ case, the U.S.

From Slate ● Sep. 8, 2026

He expects to see more pleadings for exemptions from state housing laws.

From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 2, 2025

But those pleadings, often couched in apocalyptic tones, have fallen flat.

From Salon ● Jan. 24, 2025

It took 142 hearing days spread over almost six years, 800 pages of pleadings and more than 3,000 pages of documents from the lawyers to arrive at today's verdicts.

From BBC ● Feb. 27, 2024

The defense lawyer had filed no written pleadings and uttered no more than twelve transcript lines at sentencing.

From "Just Mercy" by Bryan Stevenson

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