supplicate
Americanverb (used without object)
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supplicates,
present (3rd person singular)
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supplicated,
past participle, past
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supplicating
present participle
verb
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to make a humble request to (someone); plead
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(tr) to ask for or seek humbly
Synonym Usage
See appeal.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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presupplicateverb (used with object)
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nonsupplicatingadjective
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supplicatoryadjective
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unsupplicatedadjective
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unsupplicatingadjective
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supplicatinglyadverb
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unsupplicatinglyadverb
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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supplicatesimple
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supplicatessimple
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have supplicatedperfect
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has supplicatedperfect
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am supplicatingprogressive
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are supplicatingprogressive
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is supplicatingprogressive
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have been supplicatingperfect progressive
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has been supplicatingperfect progressive
Past
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supplicatedsimple
-
had supplicatedperfect
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was supplicatingprogressive
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were supplicatingprogressive
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had been supplicatingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of supplicate
First recorded in 1375–1425; late Middle English, from Latin supplicātus “knelt,” past participle of supplicāre “to kneel,” from supplic-, stem of supplex “submissive, suppliant” ( see supple) + -āre, infinitive verb suffix
Explanation
If you don’t get the grade you were hoping for on your paper, you could try to rewrite it, or you could meet with your teacher and supplicate. Your humble requests for an ‘A’ may or may not work. This verb is derived from the Latin supplicare, “to kneel.” People often supplicate to God for help in the form of prayer, or supplicate to a judge for a lesser sentence. It is usually an earnest petition made to an authority figure and can be perfectly respectable or can be somewhat pitiful, like begging.
Vocabulary lists containing supplicate
Instead of "Said": Words for Asking and Offering
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"Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death" by Patrick Henry (1775)
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List 1
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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:
Namo Buddha, I supplicate the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas of the three times and ten directions to bestow Their blessings upon Your Majesties.
From BBC ● Jul. 4, 2023
“All the statements from Kirill are constantly, ‘Let’s do things peacefully, lets pray and supplicate.’
From New York Times ● Mar. 13, 2022
And if it would help to fall at her feet and supplicate myself, I would.
From The Guardian ● Dec. 28, 2019
So dire was Britain's economic predicament that it had been humiliatingly obliged to supplicate for a loan from the International Monetary Fund.
From US News ● Jul. 14, 2016
His way of courtship is to come to the parents, and his nearest friends and relations must make her father presents, and supplicate him like a king, to grant him his daughter.
From The History of the Life and Adventures of Mr. Duncan Campell A Gentlen, who, tho' Deaf and Dumb, Writes down any Stranger's name at first Sight; by Daniel Defoe
No—his son, by the call of nature, supplicates his freedom.
From Such Things Are A Play, in Five Acts by Mrs. Inchbald
It supplicates the martyr to obtain by his prayers spiritual blessings, and yet addresses him as the person who is to grant those blessings.
From Primitive Christian Worship Or, The Evidence of Holy Scripture and the Church, Against the Invocation of Saints and Angels, and the Blessed Virgin Mary by James Endell Tyler
Sorrow in any shape, should meet with pity; but when it supplicates in female form, we dry its tears, nor wait to ask what caus'd them!
From The Mirror of Taste, and Dramatic Censor, Vol. I, No. 6, June 1810 by S. C. (Stephen Cullen) Carpenter
Array'd in matchless beauty, Devon's fair In Fox's favour takes a zealous part; But, oh! where'er the pilferer comes beware, She supplicates a vote, and steals a heart.
From The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction Volume 10, No. 282, November 10, 1827 by Various
Mr. Public supplicates the Cabman to return to his Stand, to charge a Shilling a Mile, and all shall be forgotten!
From Punch - Volume 25 (Jul-Dec 1853) by Various
A lama supplicated the heavenly waters by burning incense before an altar for three days.
From Time Magazine Archive
“Brain,” she supplicated faintly, “Brain, do you hear me?”
From "I, Robot" by Isaac Asimov
She was announced as the Countess Elise ——, who supplicated a particular audience of his majesty.
From Visits and Sketches at Home and Abroad with Tales and Miscellanies Now First Collected Vol. I (of 3) by Mrs. (Anna) Jameson
The bride had supplicated for me at Nykjöbing, but had not gained her object.
From Memoirs of Leonora Christina Daughter of Christian IV. of Denmark; Written During Her Imprisonment in the Blue Tower at Copenhagen 1663-1685 by Leonora Christina Ulfeldt
That the king shall be supplicated to obtain a bull from the Pope to ratify these measures.
From The History of the Inquisition of Spain from the Time of its Establishment to the Reign of Ferdinand VII. by Juan Antonio Llorente
From noon to midnight, it is alive with the buzz of crowded restaurants, supplicating panhandlers, weaving motorcycles, and pushy vendors.
From The Verge ● Aug. 11, 2022
I abandoned my front-row seat and sank to my knees, supplicating myself before the cinematographer Sayombhu Mukdeeprom’s gorgeous, otherworldly images.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 17, 2021
As I do them, moving my legs one way, my arms the other, bending and supplicating my spine, I can hear my sacral joints clicking, realigning, settling themselves, speaking to me.
From The Guardian ● Dec. 6, 2018
Mr. Iannucci is particularly good at the theater of sycophancy and at all the ways in which supplicating faces, hands and bodies can quiver in fear and with a terrible love.
From New York Times ● Mar. 8, 2018
When Mariam had seen her, Fariba said, she had asked in a high, supplicating voice, It’s normal, isn’t it ?
From "A Thousand Splendid Suns" by Khaled Hosseini
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