plea
pronunciation
How to pronounce plea in British English:
UK [pliː]
How to pronounce plea in American English:
US [pliː]
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- Noun:
- a humble request for help from someone in authority
- (law) a defendant's answer by a factual matter (as distinguished from a demurrer)
- an answer indicating why a suit should be dismissed
Word Origin
- plea (n.)
- early 13c., "lawsuit," from Anglo-French plai (late 12c.), Old French plait "lawsuit, decision, decree" (9c.), from Medieval Latin placitum "lawsuit," in classical Latin, "opinion, decree," literally "that which pleases, thing which is agreed upon," properly neuter past participle of placere (see please). Sense development seems to be from "something pleasant," to "something that pleases both sides," to "something that has been decided." Meaning "a pleading, an agreement in a suit" is attested from late 14c. Plea-bargaining is first attested 1963. Common pleas (early 13c.) originally were legal proceedings over which the Crown did not claim exclusive jurisdiction (as distinct from pleas of the Crown); later "actions brought by one subject against another."
Example
- 1. Yet piechowski could not dismiss his friend 's plea .
- 2. That might sound like an irritatingly abstract or pious plea .
- 3. He ends with a plea to protect endangered species and threatened ecosystems .
- 4. Mr breivik maintained his cockiness when asked to enter a plea .
- 5. Mr. anand said his client hasn 't decided what plea he will enter .