suppliant
/ˈsʌpliənt/
suppliant adjective: entreating with humility; supplicant.
Adjective
suppliant (comparative more suppliant, superlative most suppliant)
- Entreating with humility; supplicant.
- to bow and sue for grace with suppliant knee1667, John Milton, “Book I”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished...
- Some plaques formed part of a mosaic that covered human life with its varied scenes of peace and war. Here we have warriors, the Cretan erect, and his darker-skinned enemy prostrate and suppliant.1907, Ronald M. Burrows, The Discoveries In Crete, page 20
- Supplying; auxiliary.
- your levy Must be suppliant1611 April (first recorded performance), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Cymbeline”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard...
Noun
suppliant (plural suppliants)
- One who pleads or requests earnestly.
- In reuerence therefore of the hopes vvhich the Grecians haue repoſed in you, and of the preſence of Iupiter Olympius, in vvhoſe Temple here, vve are in a manner ſuppliants to you, receiue the Mitylenians into league, and ayde vs.1629, Thucydides, “The First Booke”, in Thomas Hobbes, transl., Eight Bookes of the Peloponnesian Warre […], London: […] Hen[ry] Seile, […], →OCLC, page 52
- [K]naves in office, partial in the vvork / Of diſtribution; lib'ral of their aid / To clam'rous importunity in rags, / But oft-times deaf to ſuppliants vvho vvould bluſh / To vvear a tatter'd garb hovvever coarſe, / VVhom famine cannot reconcile to filth; […]1785, William Cowper, “Book IV. The Winter Evening.”, in The Task, a Poem, […], London: […] J[oseph] Johnson; […], →OCLC, page 158
- Synonyms:
- beseecher, petitioner, supplicant
suppliant meaning in Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam
suppliant in Tamil
- குரையிரப்போர், தாழ்ந்து வேண்டுதலசெய்கிற, பணிந்து குறையிரக்கிற, பணிந்து குறையிரத்தலைக் காட்டுகிற
suppliant in Telugu
- suppliant, petitioner
- శరణార్థి śaraṇārthi
suppliant in Malayalam
- supplicant, petitioner, pleader
- ശരണാഗതൻ, അർത്ഥി, ശരണാർത്ഥി, അപേക്ഷകൻ, ഹർജിക്കാരൻ, പരാതിക്കാരൻ
- begging, pleading, imploring
- ശരണാഗതനായ, ശരണാർത്ഥിയായ, സങ്കടം ബോധിപ്പിക്കുന്ന, കെഞ്ചുന്ന, അപേക്ഷിക്കുന്ന, നിവേദക
Examples of suppliant in a sentence
- You were not wont to turn young and beautiful suppliants from your office door.1927, Ernest Bramah [pseudonym; Ernest Brammah Smith], Max Carrados Mysteries:
- I touch your beard as a suppliant, embrace your knees, imploring you to have pity on my wretchedness.1963, Philip Vellacott, transl., Medea, Penguin Classics, translation of original by Euripides, page 39:
Synonyms of suppliant
Forms of suppliant
| Adjective | |
|---|---|
| comparative | more suppliant |
| superlative | most suppliant |
| Noun | |
| plural | suppliants |
Origin of suppliant
From French suppliant, present participle of supplier. Doublet of supplicant.
Questions about suppliant
- What does suppliant mean?
- Suppliant means entreating with humility; supplicant.
- What is suppliant in Tamil?
- Suppliant in Tamil is குரையிரப்போர், தாழ்ந்து வேண்டுதலசெய்கிற, பணிந்து குறையிரக்கிற. See Suppliant meaning in Tamil.
- How do you use suppliant in a sentence?
- You were not wont to turn young and beautiful suppliants from your office door.
- What part of speech is suppliant?
- Suppliant can be an adjective or a noun.
- How do you pronounce suppliant?
- Suppliant is pronounced /ˈsʌpliənt/.
Words near suppliant in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: suppliant (page history and authors); suppliant (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); శరణార్థి (Telugu) (page history and authors); suppliant (Olam, E.K. Kurup corpus) (dataset and license). 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.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-suppliant.ogg.
Cite this entry: “suppliant.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/suppliant. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.