plead
Americanverb (used without object)
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pleads,
present (3rd person singular)
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pleaded,
past participle, past
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pled,
past participle, past
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pleading
present participle
-
to appeal or entreat earnestly.
to plead for time.
- Synonyms:
- supplicate, beg
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to use arguments or persuasions, as with a person, for or against something.
She pleaded with him not to take the job.
- Synonyms:
- reason
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to afford an argument or appeal.
His youth pleads for him.
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Law.
-
to make any allegation or plea in an action at law.
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to put forward an answer on the part of a defendant to a legal declaration or charge.
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to address a court as an advocate.
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Obsolete. to prosecute a suit or action at law.
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verb (used with object)
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pleads,
present (3rd person singular)
-
pleaded,
past participle, past
-
pled,
past participle, past
-
pleading
present participle
-
to allege or urge in defense, justification, or excuse.
to plead ignorance.
- Synonyms:
- claim
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Law.
-
to maintain (a cause) by argument before a court.
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to allege or set forth (something) formally in an action at law.
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to allege or cite in legal defense.
to plead a statute of limitations.
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verb
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to appeal earnestly or humbly (to)
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(tr; may take a clause as object) to give as an excuse; offer in justification or extenuation
to plead ignorance
he pleaded that he was insane
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to provide an argument or appeal (for)
her beauty pleads for her
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law to declare oneself to be (guilty or not guilty) in answer to the charge
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law to advocate (a case) in a court of law
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(intr) law
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to file pleadings
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to address a court as an advocate
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Usage
What does plead mean? Plead means to beg or passionately try to persuade someone to do something. It’s similar to the word beg, which often means to request again and again. Plead can mean the same thing, but it’s especially used to imply that the request is passionate and that the person doing the pleading is desperate. It’s especially used in serious situations. A person might plead with their friend to get help with an addiction. You might plead with your teacher for more time to complete a project. Plead is used in a more specific way in a legal context, in which it means to declare one’s status in response to charges, especially to plead guilty or not guilty, as in How does the defendant plead? and My client pleads not guilty. It can also mean to argue something in court. The expression plead one’s case uses this sense of the word. Less commonly, plead can mean to offer as an excuse for or defense of one’s actions. When used this way, it’s typically followed by the specific excuse, as in, Don’t plead ignorance—you knew what you were doing. Plead has two past tense forms: pleaded and pled. The noun form of plead is plea. Example: When I was a kid, I was afraid of the dentist and used to plead with my mom not to make me go.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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pleadsimple
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pleadssimple
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have pleadedperfect
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have pledperfect
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has pleadedperfect
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has pledperfect
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am pleadingprogressive
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are pleadingprogressive
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is pleadingprogressive
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have been pleadingperfect progressive
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has been pleadingperfect progressive
Past
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pleadedsimple
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pledsimple
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had pleadedperfect
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had pledperfect
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was pleadingprogressive
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were pleadingprogressive
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had been pleadingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of plead
First recordd in 1200–50; Middle English plaiden, from< Old French plaid(i)er “to go to law, plead,” from early Medieval Latin placitāre “to litigate,” derivative of Latin placitum “opinion, agreed condition.” See plea
Explanation
To plead with someone is to try to convince them to see it your way. Your kids may plead with you to let them go on the super-huge outrageous roller coaster built in 1968, but you know better. The term plead comes from the word plea, which is from the legal system, where lawyers make a plea to the court and argue a case for their client. To plead is to ask for something from someone, often on the verge of begging. You may plead with the phone company to give an appointment time that spans only three hours, but, regardless of your pleading, they will make you wait eight hours for the technician to finally show.
Vocabulary lists containing plead
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Instead of "Said": Words for Asking and Offering
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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:
"You have had the courage to plead guilty to these matters and will get appropriate credit in due course," he told him.
From BBC ● Sep. 11, 2026
In an earlier prosecution, in November 2021, Ms. Chow wouldn’t plead guilty to protest-related charges, refusing to “trade my honesty for freedom.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 23, 2026
After more than a year-and-a-half of intense spectacle and legal wrangling, Luigi Mangione appeared in a federal courtroom in New York on Friday as rumours swirled that he may plead guilty.
From BBC ● Aug. 14, 2026
Luigi Mangione who is accused of killing a health insurance boss in Manhattan may plead guilty to stalking charges in his federal case, The New York Times reported Thursday.
From Barron's ● Aug. 13, 2026
Finally Lyra had to plead with them to hold back.
From "The Amber Spyglass" by Philip Pullman
"Jolene, I'm begging of you, please don't take my man," she pleads.
From BBC ● Aug. 25, 2026
Alejandro Tellez’s contribution came with the punchy “Linda Sonrisa,” that pleads for someone to realize the realities of the mistreatment they’re facing with another lover.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 17, 2026
In Psalm 73, Asaph pleads with God, wondering why good men suffer while the wicked prosper.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 5, 2026
“Rise up!” the chorus pleads, and demands, and hopes for.
From Salon ● May 28, 2026
He tracks me down at the university, rumpled and unshaven and suddenly too old, and pleads with me as I walk between classes.
From "Cat's Eye" by Margaret Atwood
In the face of overwhelming evidence, Kao pleaded guilty in both cases in the fall of 2022.
From Salon ● Sep. 23, 2026
Binance and Zhao pleaded guilty in 2023 to anti-money-laundering violations that allowed the exchange to turn into a global dirty-money hub, and paid a record $4.3 billion fine.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 18, 2026
PC Chris Johnson, 56, pleaded not guilty at the Old Bailey to causing her death by dangerous driving.
From BBC ● Sep. 18, 2026
He pleaded not guilty, and the infraction was dismissed in 2024, court records show.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 15, 2026
“Please, Isa. Save my life here,” Mama pleaded.
From "The Vanderbeekers of 141st Street" by Karina Yan Glaser
In August 2024 he rejected a motion to dismiss a private suit against Harvard, writing, “the facts as pled show that Harvard failed its Jewish students.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 17, 2026
"The day he pled guilty, I was still learning about some of the detail of what he had done for the first time."
From BBC ● Aug. 8, 2026
In more recent cases, State Department intelligence analyst Walter Kendall Myers and former US ambassador to Bolivia Victor Manuel Rocha pled guilty in separate cases to spying for the communist country.
From Barron's ● Jul. 20, 2026
At Hamilton Sheriff Court last week, the 38-year-old pled guilty to failing to provide adequate food, rest or training to five workers from Ghana while he was skipper of the Sea Lady vessel in 2017.
From BBC ● Jun. 8, 2026
I think she would have pled with him not to steal the souls of those who would take his place.
From "The Poisonwood Bible" by Barbara Kingsolver
Throughout the crisis, Kiritsis made live calls to Fred Heckman, a local AM radio news broadcaster, pleading to listeners for the justice he believed he was due.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 18, 2026
Then she saw the video of him pleading with the police when they first accused him of the break-in.
From Slate ● Sep. 17, 2026
I look at Patrick, who shoots me a pleading expression.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 15, 2026
Another of her tunes, Jolene - which finds her pleading with a stunning rival not to steal her man - re-entered the chart at number nine on Friday.
From BBC ● Aug. 28, 2026
His eyes seemed to be pleading for me to understand.
From "Blended" by Sharon M. Draper
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.
