plea means an appeal, petition, urgent prayer or entreaty. It carries an Arena rating of 1366, earned across 10 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, plea ranks #3,570 of 17,052 for Best Fossil-Poetry Words, #6,034 of 17,052 for Most Vivid Words, #7,929 of 17,052 for Most Sublime Words, #7,979 of 17,052 for Most Exacting Words.
plea is pronounced /pliː/.
Why “plea” is a great word
A formal, serious, and often urgent request, entreaty, or appeal, especially one made in a legal context. From Middle English *ple*, from Anglo-French *plai* and Old French *plait, plaid* ("lawsuit, decree"), from Medieval Latin *placitum* ("a decree, plea"), itself from Latin *placitum* ("an opinion, decision"), the neuter past participle of *placere* ("to please"). Unlike a "request," which can be casual and hopeful, or an "excuse," which seeks merely to explain, a plea carries the weight of consequence and the scent of desperation. It is the hushed, frantic whisper across a courtroom before sentencing, the handwritten note pressed into a guard's hand, the raw and final utterance hurled against an indifferent sky—the sound of human need formalized by its last, best hope.
Etymology
From Middle English ple, from Old French plait, plaid, from Medieval Latin placitum (“a decree, sentence, suit, plea, etc., Latin an opinion, determination, prescription, order; literally, that which is pleasing, pleasure”), neuter of placitus, past participle of placere (“to please”). Cognate with Spanish pleito (“lawsuit, suit”). Doublet of placit. See also please, pleasure.
noun
- An appeal, petition, urgent prayer or entreaty.e.g.“Even if only one person answers my plea for someone to correspond with it will be a blessing.”
- An excuse; an apology.e.g.“Necessity, the tyrant’s plea.”
- That which is alleged or pleaded, in defense or in justification.
- That which is alleged by a party in support of his cause.
- An allegation of fact in a cause, as distinguished from a demurrer.
- The defendant’s answer to the plaintiff’s declaration and demand.
- A cause in court; a lawsuit; as, the Court of Common Pleas.e.g.“they or any three of them shall be a Court and have cognizance of pleas real, personal, and mixed.”
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