suppliant
Americanadjective
noun
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of suppliant
1400–50; late Middle English < Middle French, present participle of supplier < Latin supplicāre to beseech, supplicate. See -ant
Explanation
A suppliant is someone who begs or prays for something, and to be suppliant is to humbly pray or ask for forgiveness. Puppy-dog eyes can help if you’re trying to look suppliant. Like the related word supplicant, suppliant has do with praying in a humble manner. A suppliant student in the principal's office is going to have better luck avoiding detention than a disrespectful one. Suppliant is not a word you hear much these days — it was more frequently used in the days when people had to beg for everyday things, including basic needs like food and water, from monarchs and others in positions of power or authority.
Vocabulary lists containing suppliant
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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.
In April 2016, hundreds of people sat inside the University of Vienna's theatre watching The Suppliants, a play performed by asylum-seekers from Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan.
From BBC • Sep. 19, 2018
Suppliants among politicians overnight become the sought-after when they become controversial.
From Time Magazine Archive
The Epidaurus Festival of Ancient Tragedy discovered that it had no room on the schedule for Euripides' The Suppliants, a story of a free city-state triumphing over tyranny.
From Time Magazine Archive
I have taken this story from the Antigone and the Oedipus at Colonus, two of Sophocles’ plays, with the exception of the death of Menoeceus, which is told in a play of Euripides, The Suppliants.
From "Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes" by Edith Hamilton
Euripides’ play, The Suppliants, shows his modern mind better than any of his other plays.
From "Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes" by Edith Hamilton
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.
