plead
More pronunciations (2)Fewer pronunciations
present/pliːd/past/plɛd/
plead verb: to present (an argument or a plea), especially in a legal case.
Verb
plead (third-person singular simple present pleads, present participle pleading, simple past and past participle pleaded or (chiefly Canada, US, Scotland) pled or plead)
- To present (an argument or a plea), especially in a legal case.
- The defendant has decided to plead not guilty.
- O that one might plead for a man with God, as a man pleadeth for his neighbour!1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Job 16:21
- To beg, beseech, or implore, especially emotionally.
- He pleaded with me not to leave the house.
- He was pleading for mercy.
- To offer by way of excuse.
- Not wishing to attend the banquet, I pleaded illness.
- It is no defence to plead that you were only obeying orders.
- To discuss by arguments.
plead meaning in Tamil, Urdu, Bengali and Malayalam
plead in Tamil
- இரைஞ்சு, வழக்குரை, வாதிடு
plead in Urdu
- حجت کرنا, مانگنا, درخواست کرنا
plead in Bengali
- আবেদন করা, মিনতি করা
plead in Malayalam
- വാഗ്വാദം ചെയ്യുക, സ്വപക്ഷം സമർത്ഥിക്കുക, ന്യായവാദം നടത്തുക, വ്യവഹാരം നടത്തുക
More languagesFewer languages
- plead in Kannada
- ಬೇಡು, ಮೊರೆಯಿಡು, ಕೋರಿಕೆ ಸಲ್ಲಿಸು, ಪುಯ್ಯಲಿಕ್ಕು
- plead in Tagalog
- makiusap
- plead in Vietnamese
- bào chữa, biện hộ, cãi, cầu xin
Examples of plead in a sentence
- At the High Court in Aberdeen in September, NR pleaded guilty to a series of failings, including failing to tell the driver that it was unsafe to drive the train at the 75mph line speed.2023 October 18, “Network News: Carmont: NR pays nearly £1m in out-of-court settlements”, in RAIL, number 994, page 15:
- In his state case, Mangione pleaded not guilty to eight felony charges, including second-degree murder and several counts related to criminal possession of a weapon.2026 August 13, Jonathan Dienst, Adam Reiss, Erica Byfield, Matt Lavietes, Chloe Atkins, “Luigi Mangione expected to plead guilty in New...
- The mayor, however, pleaded poverty and sent only £500.1980, AA Book of British Villages, Drive Publications Ltd, page 329, about Queniborough:
Synonyms of plead
Forms of plead
| third-person singular present | pleads |
|---|---|
| present participle | pleading |
| past participle | pleaded |
| past | pleaded |
| past participle Canada Scotland US | pled |
| past Canada Scotland US | pled |
| past participle | plead |
| past | plead |
Origin of plead
From Middle English pleden, plaiden, from Old French plaider (“to plead, offer a plea”), from plait, from Medieval Latin placitum (“a decree, sentence, suit, plea, etc.", in Classical Latin, "an opinion, determination, prescription, order; literally, that which is pleasing, pleasure”), neuter of placitus, past participle of placeō (“to please”). Cognate with Spanish pleitear (“to litigate, take to court”).
Words formed from plead
Words that rhyme with plead
48 more rhymesFewer rhymes
- weed
- proceed
- stampede
- concede
- accede
- deed
- exceed
- need
- bede
- knead
- mislead
- rede
- swede
- cede
- creed
- godspeed
- heed
- intercede
- keyed
- leed
- meed
- precede
- recede
- tumbleweed
- a friend in need is a friend indeed
- beread
- greed
- he'd
- indeed
- interbreed
- kneed
- mead
- secede
- she'd
- sneed
- steed
- supersede
- underfeed
- we'd
- ye'd
- agreed
- anasheed
- aniseed
- atheed
- caid
- co-feed
- cofeed
- counterplead
Questions about plead
- What does plead mean?
- Plead means to present (an argument or a plea), especially in a legal case.
- What is plead in Tamil?
- Plead in Tamil is இரைஞ்சு, வழக்குரை, வாதிடு. See Plead meaning in Tamil.
- How do you use plead in a sentence?
- At the High Court in Aberdeen in September, NR pleaded guilty to a series of failings, including failing to tell the driver that it was unsafe to drive the train at the 75mph line speed.
- What part of speech is plead?
- Plead is a verb.
- How do you pronounce plead?
- Plead is pronounced /pliːd/ (present).
- What is the past tense of plead?
- The past tense of plead is pleaded.
Words near plead in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: plead (page history and authors); plead (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); plead (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); plead (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); plead (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); plead (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-plead.ogg.
Cite this entry: “plead.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/plead. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.