plea

plea — noun

1. a strong request for help or action, expressed with clear feeling

1.nounC2
Definition

a strong request for help or action, expressed with clear feeling

Example

At the town meeting, residents made a plea for safer street lights.

pattern: make a plea for + noun

A plea for help came over the camp radio at midnight.

Common collocations
  • make a plea
  • desperate plea
  • plea for help
  • plea for action
  • tearful plea
Synonyms
  • appeal

    often sounds more public or organized, especially in news or charity contexts

  • request

    more neutral and less emotional

  • entreaty

    more literary and less common in everyday speech

  • begging

    more vivid and often suggests extreme desperation

Grammar Patterns

make a plea for + noun

plea to + person/authority + for + noun

plea to + verb

Usage Note

Often used with verbs like make, issue, hear, ignore, and answer, and commonly followed by for plus a noun or to plus a verb. Stronger and more emotional than the neutral word request.

Common Mistakes

The villagers made a plea of help.
The villagers made a plea for help.
use 'for' before the thing wanted.

2. the formal statement by an accused person about the charge, usually saying guilt

2.noun
Definition

the formal statement by an accused person about the charge, usually saying guilty or not guilty

Example

In court, Rosa entered a not guilty plea after the charge was read.

pattern: enter a guilty/not guilty plea

The judge rejected his plea and set a trial date for June.

Common collocations
  • enter a plea
  • change a plea
  • guilty plea
  • not guilty plea
  • reject a plea
Synonyms
  • answer

    a broad legal word that can refer to many kinds of formal response

  • response

    general and not specifically tied to criminal court procedure

  • defence

    broader than plea and can include later arguments and evidence

Grammar Patterns

enter a guilty/not guilty plea

change your plea to guilty/not guilty

accept/reject a plea

Usage Note

Usually appears with verbs like enter, change, accept, reject, and withdraw, and often combines with guilty or not guilty. Distinguish from sense 1, which is a strong request for help or action rather than a legal response.

Common Mistakes

The defendant said a not guilty plea.
The defendant entered a not guilty plea.
in legal English, the usual verb is 'enter'.

Word family

  • plead
    verbC1
  • pleading
    nounC2

Synonym discussion

Sense: noun/1

For noun sense 1, plea is stronger and more emotional than request. A request can be calm, routine, and practical, such as asking for a form, a seat, or a day off. Appeal is often more public or formal, especially when a group asks for money, support, or action. Entreaty is a literary word and is much less common in everyday speech, though it also suggests deep feeling. Begging is more vivid and can sound desperate or humiliating, while plea works in both private and public situations. A mother might make a plea for blood donors after an accident, but an office worker would usually make a request for a new chair.

appeal ↗request ↗entreatybegging ↗

Etymology

LatinAnglo-FrenchEnglish

Plea entered English through Anglo-French legal language. It goes back to Latin placitum, meaning something decided or agreed, and the legal sense later developed into the modern ideas of a court answer and an earnest request.