advocacy

American  

[ad-vuh-kuh-see] / ˈæd və kə si /

noun

• advocacies
  plural

1. the act of pleading for, supporting, or recommending; active espousal.

   He was known for his advocacy of states' rights.

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advocacy British  

/ ˈædvəkəsɪ /

noun

1. active support, esp of a cause

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• nonadvocacy
  noun
• preadvocacy
  noun

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• advocacies
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of advocacy

First recorded in 1375–1425; late Middle English advocacye, from Medieval Latin advocātia; see advocate, -acy

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Explanation

When you give your active support to an idea or cause, you are showing your advocacy for that cause. Your advocacy for an animal rights group might help raise money to save stray pups. The noun advocacy comes to English from a term used in Roman law. An advocate was a professional whose job was to plead cases in front of a court of law. That meaning led to the verb form advocate, as well as advocacy, to describe the work of an advocate. "The lunchroom staff were advocates for healthier school lunches; their advocacy was supported by parents and the school board; however, the students were reluctant to give up their cookies and chips."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

advocacy advocacies

He puts Caravaggio, for example, in the “cultural changes” bin, but the painter’s reappraisal was driven by personal advocacy by, among others, the Gilded Age art advisor Bernard Berenson.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 9, 2026

“A government that is actually meeting its constitutional obligations has no reason to fear public scrutiny,” said Alvaro M. Huerta, director of litigation and advocacy at the Immigrant Defenders Law Center.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 8, 2026

"But a rating agency is judged on independence and accuracy, not where it sits. If it will not downgrade an African sovereign, markets will treat it as advocacy," he told AFP.

From Barron's ● Oct. 7, 2026

Lawrence began local advocacy for affordable housing through the Michigan Rent Is Too Damn High Coalition, a tenant union he founded in 2023.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 6, 2026

Despite its unyielding advocacy of Negro economic empowerment, Hampton Institute’s stance on integration had always been of the go- slow variety, wartime president Malcolm MacLean being a notable exception.

From "Hidden Figures" by Margot Lee Shetterly

Her advocacies center on defending human rights and empowering the poor partly by teaching them their legal rights.

From Seattle Times ● May 7, 2022

"She's someone that they can really look up look up to with her advocacies and how she carries herself - she really encapsulates that ethos of inclusivity."

From BBC ● Jul. 22, 2021

Nine other organizations, including the local American Civil Liberties Union chapter, gay rights groups and immigrant advocacies, supported the complaint.

From Washington Times ● Jan. 26, 2016

If nobody compromises, then the result is multiple pure advocacies that result in nothing.

From Washington Post ● Apr. 17, 2015

For we are vexed with ourselves when we give, and ashamed when we perjure ourselves, and get ill-fame from our advocacies, and are put to the blush, when we cannot fulfil our promises.

From Plutarch's Morals by Arthur Richard Shilleto

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Related Words

• advancement
• assistance
• backing

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