advocate
Americanverb (used with object)
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advocates,
present (3rd person singular)
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advocated,
past participle, past
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advocating
present participle
verb (used without object)
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advocates,
present (3rd person singular)
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advocated,
past participle, past
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advocating
present participle
noun
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advocates
plural
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a person who speaks or writes in support or defense of a person, cause, etc. (usually followed byof ).
an advocate of peace.
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a person who pleads for or in behalf of another; intercessor.
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a person who pleads the cause of another in a court of law.
verb
noun
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a person who upholds or defends a cause; supporter
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a person who intercedes on behalf of another
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a person who pleads his client's cause in a court of law See also barrister solicitor counsellor
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Scots law the usual word for barrister
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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advocatornoun
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nonadvocatenoun
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preadvocatenoun
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subadvocatenoun
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preadvocateverb (used with object)
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readvocateverb (used with object)
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advocativeadjective
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advocatoryadjective
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unadvocatedadjective
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well-advocatedadjective
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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advocatesimple
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advocatessimple
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have advocatedperfect
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has advocatedperfect
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am advocatingprogressive
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are advocatingprogressive
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is advocatingprogressive
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have been advocatingperfect progressive
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has been advocatingperfect progressive
Past
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advocatedsimple
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had advocatedperfect
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was advocatingprogressive
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were advocatingprogressive
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had been advocatingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of advocate
First recorded in 1300–50; from Latin advocātus “legal counselor,” originally past participle of advocāre “to call to one's aid,” equivalent to ad- ad- + vocāre “to call” (akin to vōx voice ); replacing Middle English avocat, from Middle French
Explanation
An advocate (AD-və-kit) is someone who supports a cause, like an advocate for outdoor recess. Advocate (AD-və-kate) is also a verb meaning to speak in favor of, so you can advocate for that outdoor recess by urging your school to play outside! As a noun, an advocate is a person who represents another person’s interests, like a lawyer does. In fact, the word comes from the courtroom — it’s from Latin advocare, to “add” a “voice.” To advocate is to add a voice of support to a cause or person. An advocate is anyone who adds that voice by representing another person in court, or by supporting or working toward a particular course of action.
Vocabulary lists containing advocate
The Vocabulary.com Top 1000
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The SAT: Words to Capture Tone, List 1
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300 Most Difficult "SAT" Words
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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:
“This is incredibly exciting news — the news we in wolf recovery for decades have been waiting for,” Amaroq Weiss, a former senior wolf advocate at the Center for Biological Diversity, told the news outlet.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 5, 2026
Masha Hansford, a veteran Supreme Court advocate who now represents Maxwell, said she has seen petitions written by practicing lawyers that are “far weaker” than the 35-page petition he managed to put together.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 5, 2026
The first is the $10 bill, depicting Black civil rights advocate Viola Desmond.
From BBC ● Sep. 3, 2026
New York Fed President John Williams, who has been a leading advocate of the central bank’s “hold and wait” strategy on interest rates, sounded more open to an interest-rate increase in a television appearance Wednesday.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 2, 2026
“Usually I don’t advocate giving him anything,” I say.
From "Allegiant" by Veronica Roth
Paxton’s move to significantly revalue his assets without explaining why is “very strange,” said Margaret Dylus-Yukins, senior counsel for ethics at the nonpartisan Campaign Legal Center, which advocates for strong disclosure rules.
From Salon ● Sep. 5, 2026
They do not,” Denisha Jones, the executive director of Defending the Early Years, a nonprofit that advocates for playful and experiential approaches to childhood education, told me.
From Slate ● Sep. 5, 2026
While many doctors don’t have the time or familiarity with prior-authorization appeals to help patients, patient advocates say physicians or their office staff are a crucial part of the process.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 4, 2026
The researchers and advocates for the unhoused point to other Olympic host cities that they said failed the test of how to treat the most vulnerable residents.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 4, 2026
The advocates of the new chemistry insisted that they had no time for texts whose meaning was impenetrable.
From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton
He advocated for a balance between progress and democracy, calling for more open-source AI agents.
From Salon ● Sep. 4, 2026
His parents Frances and Ceri Menai-Davis have advocated for a change to employment law that would require employers to guarantee three months' salaries to parents whose child faces serious physical or mental illness.
From BBC ● Aug. 31, 2026
After his son’s death, the Republican lawmaker spearheaded legislation in 2023 that made sexual extortion a felony offense in South Carolina and has advocated for online safety.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 28, 2026
During his campaign for the Fed chair job, he advocated for rate cuts — at the time, the White House’s preferred strategy.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 27, 2026
The copilot should have advocated for his own opinions in a stronger way...
From "Outliers" by Malcolm Gladwell
She helps facilitate the Outdoor Equity program aimed at helping young people of color find belonging in outdoor spaces through hiking, camping, and kayaking, while advocating around environmental racism and access to nature.
From Slate ● Sep. 5, 2026
The $10 million is “a beacon of hope,” said Marielle Abaunza, president of the California Post Alliance, a group advocating for the bill.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 1, 2026
Julie Meyer Rowett, an elder-law attorney who has been advocating for estate-recovery reform in Oregon, took the case on a pro bono basis.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 25, 2026
Having stopped full-time work in May, Ren spends his days caring for Huanle and advocating for his wife -- posting case updates to an X account with a few hundred followers.
From Barron's ● Aug. 25, 2026
“Material advocating the equality of whites and blacks?”
From "Native Son" by Richard Wright
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.
