Plea-bargain
noun, verb ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 Alternative form of plea bargain (“an agreement between a defendant and the prosecution in which the defendant agrees to a plea such as guilty or nolo contendere to a lesser charge rather than contesting a greater charge”). US, alt-of, alternative
- 1 To make an agreement in which a defendant agrees to plead guilty to a lesser charge instead of not guilty to a greater one. US
"[…] former District Attorney, Butters said "[…] I think the fact that so many plead guilty proves that these cases should have been prosecuted." One of those who plea-bargained disagrees. Ed Mede last week pleaded guilty to one count of sex with a minor under 16. "This does not prove my gilt ^([sic])," he insists. "It proves the injustice of the whole system. I could not go on paying for my attorney through a long trial. […] I did not want to face life in prison because of the whim of a biased judge or juror.""
- 2 agree to plead guilty in return for a lesser charge wordnet
Synonyms
All synonymsExample
More examples"[…] former District Attorney, Butters said "[…] I think the fact that so many plead guilty proves that these cases should have been prosecuted." One of those who plea-bargained disagrees. Ed Mede last week pleaded guilty to one count of sex with a minor under 16. "This does not prove my gilt ^([sic])," he insists. "It proves the injustice of the whole system. I could not go on paying for my attorney through a long trial. […] I did not want to face life in prison because of the whim of a biased judge or juror.""
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.