advocacy
Americannoun
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of advocacy
First recorded in 1375–1425; late Middle English advocacye, from Medieval Latin advocātia; see advocate, -acy
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."
Vocabulary lists containing advocacy
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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:
Parallel to Byrd’s stirring public advocacy is a crucial personal thread: her nurturing of Shelly, whose progressing dementia requires regular supervision.
From Salon ● Jul. 10, 2026
Rocio Concha, head of policy and advocacy at Which? welcomed the publication as a "significant step" in holding tech firms accountable for profiting from fraud which harms users.
From BBC ● Jul. 10, 2026
“It looks like it was dropped onto the site from Mars,” said Topher Hamblett, executive director of Save the Bay, an advocacy group.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 8, 2026
The bill, which is sponsored by the district attorney’s office and advocacy group Social Compassion in Legislation, passed the Senate’s public safety committee after clearing the Assembly earlier this year.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 8, 2026
The notion that all of these reforms can be accomplished piecemeal—one at a time, through disconnected advocacy strategies—seems deeply misguided.
From "The New Jim Crow" by Michelle Alexander
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 Shilleto, Arthur Richard
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.
