Plea

Noun

 * 1) An appeal, petition, urgent prayer or entreaty.
 * a plea for mercy
 * 1) An excuse; an apology.
 * 1667, Necessity, the tyrant’s plea. --John Milton, Paradise Lost IV.393
 * No plea must serve; ‘t is cruelty to spare. -- Sir John Denham.
 * 1) That which is alleged or pleaded, in defense or in justification.
 * 2)  That which is alleged by a party in support of his cause.
 * 3)  An allegation of fact in a cause, as distinguished from a demurrer.
 * 4)  The defendant’s answer to the plaintiff’s declaration and demand.
 * 5)  A cause in court; a lawsuit; as, the Court of Common Pleas. See under Common.
 * The Supreme Judicial Court shall have cognizance of pleas real, personal, and mixed.     --Laws of Massachusetts.

Related terms

 * pleas of the crown
 * plead
 * pleasant
 * please
 * pleasurable
 * pleasure

Adjectives for Plea
suggestive; eloquent; dastard; masterly; eternal; half-stifled; unmoral; impassioned; specious; irrational; pettifogging; ingenious; common; special; confederate.

Verbs for Plea
address—; anticipate—; endorse—; file—; heed—; impair—; justify—; necessitate—; oppose—; press—; protest—; put aside—; respond to—; satisfy—; support—; witness —; —penetrates; —softens; —touches; — urges.

Thesaurus
adjuration, alibi, answer, apology, appeal, application, argument, argumentum, beseechment, bid, call, case, clamor, cons, consideration, counterstatement, cry, defence, defense, demurrer, denial, elenchus, entreaty, exception, excuse, explanation, extenuation, ignoratio elenchi, imploration, imploring, imprecation, invocation, invocatory plea, justification, mitigation, objection, obsecration, obtestation, out, overture, palliation, petition, plaidoyer, pleading, pleadings, prayer, pretext, pros, pros and cons, reason, rebuttal, refutation, reply, request, response, right, riposte, rogation, solicitation, special demurrer, special pleading, statement of defense, suit, supplication, talking point, vindication

Etymology
From <  plait:, plaid: <  placitum:, neuter of placitus:, past participle of placere:.

Translations

 * Dutch: ,
 * Esperanto:


 * Finnish: ,
 * Hungarian:


 * Dutch:
 * Finnish:, , puolustelu


 * Hungarian:, ,
 * Japanese: (, benkai)


 * Finnish: ,


 * Hungarian: védőbeszéd


 * Dutch:


 * Finnish: ,


 * Dutch: ,


 * Finnish: oikeusjuttu


 * : 请求 (qǐngqiú)
 * : supplication
 * : Plädoyer
 * : Plädoyer


 * : supplica
 * : 간청 (gancheong)
 * : súplica
 * : оправдание (opravdánije)
 * : súplica
 * : försvar

Anagrams

 * leap, pale, peal