Pleading

//ˈpliːdɪŋ// adj, noun, verb

adj, noun, verb ·Moderate ·College level

Definitions

Noun

1
The act of making a plea. countable, uncountable
"But it pleased her to play on my passion / And whet me to pleadings / That won from her mirthful negations / And scornings undue."
2
(law) a statement in legal and logical form stating something on behalf of a party to a legal proceeding wordnet
3
A document filed in a lawsuit, particularly a document initiating litigation or responding to the initiation of litigation. countable, uncountable

Verb

1
present participle and gerund of plead form-of, gerund, participle, present

Adjective

1
That pleads.
"Franchise, relaxed and soothed by the vagueness of a surrender set so far in the future, simply took hold of his two hands to make him behave himself and looked at him with her pretty pleading eyes — the eyes of a sensitive woman who didn't want to risk having a child by anyone but her husband."

Adjective

1
begging wordnet

Synonyms

beseeching adjuratory answer appealing argument argumentum

Example

"It's no use pleading because they'll never give in."

Etymology

By surface analysis, plead + -ing.

Related phrases

artful pleading shotgun pleading special pleading

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.