suppliant
pronunciation
How to pronounce suppliant in British English:
UK ['sʌplɪənt]
How to pronounce suppliant in American English:
US [ˈsʌpliənt]
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- Noun:
- one praying humbly for something
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- Adjective:
- humbly entreating
Word Origin
- suppliant (n.)
- early 15c., from Middle French suppliant, noun use of present participle of supplier "to plead humbly, entreat, beg, pray," (Old French souploier, 12c.), from Latin supplicare "beg, beseech" (see supplication). Originally in English especially at law; sense of "humble petitioner" is from mid-16c. As an adjective, "supplicating, entreating" from 1580s. Related: Suppliance; suppliantly.
Example
- 1. He asked for help in a suppliant attitude .
- 2. He knelt as a suppliant at the altar .
- 3. Act 2 : recit : my lord , a suppliant at your feet ; ballad : he loves !
- 4. Nearly ten years later , he produced " the suppliant women , " his first known tragedy .
- 5. And now , and for the first time , he was a suppliant , tender and timid and doubting .