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PLEA
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (noun)
Sense 1
Meaning:
An answer indicating why a suit should be dismissed
Classified under:
Nouns denoting acts or actions
Hypernyms ("plea" is a kind of...):
due process; due process of law ((law) the administration of justice according to established rules and principles; based on the principle that a person cannot be deprived of life or liberty or property without appropriate legal procedures and safeguards)
Domain category:
jurisprudence; law (the collection of rules imposed by authority)
Holonyms ("plea" is a part of...):
trial ((law) the determination of a person's innocence or guilt by due process of law)
Sense 2
Meaning:
(law) a defendant's answer by a factual matter (as distinguished from a demurrer)
Classified under:
Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents
Hypernyms ("plea" is a kind of...):
answer (the principal pleading by the defendant in response to plaintiff's complaint; in criminal law it consists of the defendant's plea of 'guilty' or 'not guilty' (or nolo contendere); in civil law it must contain denials of all allegations in the plaintiff's complaint that the defendant hopes to controvert and it can contain affirmative defenses or counterclaims)
Domain category:
jurisprudence; law (the collection of rules imposed by authority)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "plea"):
counterplea (a plaintiff's reply to a defendant's plea)
dilatory plea (a plea that delays the action without settling the cause of action; it can challenge the jurisdiction or claim disability of the defendant etc. (such defenses are usually raised in the defendant's answer))
insanity plea; plea of insanity ((criminal law) a plea in which the defendant claims innocence due to mental incompetence at the time)
Sense 3
Meaning:
A humble request for help from someone in authority
Synonyms:
plea; supplication
Classified under:
Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents
Hypernyms ("plea" is a kind of...):
appeal; entreaty; prayer (earnest or urgent request)
Context examples:
Miss Fairfax's recent illness had offered a fair plea for Mrs. Weston to invite her to an airing; she had drawn back and declined at first, but, on being pressed had yielded; and, in the course of their drive, Mrs. Weston had, by gentle encouragement, overcome so much of her embarrassment, as to bring her to converse on the important subject.
(Emma, by Jane Austen)
When Emma afterwards heard that Jane Fairfax had been seen wandering about the meadows, at some distance from Highbury, on the afternoon of the very day on which she had, under the plea of being unequal to any exercise, so peremptorily refused to go out with her in the carriage, she could have no doubt—putting every thing together—that Jane was resolved to receive no kindness from her.
(Emma, by Jane Austen)
