Did you know?
Pleaded vs. Pled
Plead belongs to the same class of verbs as bleed, lead, and feed, and like them it has a past and past participle with a short vowel spelled pled (or sometimes plead, which is pronounced alike). From the beginning, pled has faced competition from the regular form pleaded, which eventually came to predominate in mainstream British English. Pled was and is used in Scottish English, which is likely how it came to American English. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, pled was attacked by many American usage commentators (perhaps because it was not in good British use). Though still sometimes criticized, it is fully respectable today and both pled (or plead) and pleaded are in good use in the U.S. In legal use (such as “pleaded guilty,” “pled guilty”), both forms are standard, though pleaded is used with greater frequency. In nonlegal use (such as “pleaded for help”), pleaded appears more commonly, though pled is also considered standard.
Examples of plead in a Sentence
Nate Gartrell, The Mercury News, 16 Nov. 2024
Tekashi is expected to plead guilty on November 12 to violating supervised release and agree to serve a one-month jail sentence, and another year of supervision, according to the Associated Press.
—Victoria Bekiempis, Vulture, 12 Nov. 2024
The jury reached its verdict after a four-week trial in which Richard Allen, 52, pleaded not guilty to murder charges in the Feb. 13, 2017, slayings of close friends Abigail Williams, 13, and Liberty German, 14.
—Tim Stelloh, NBC News, 11 Nov. 2024
Since then, he's had no shortage of controversies that have rattled Republican leadership, including a history of posting racist memes on social media and pleading guilty to operating a vehicle while intoxicated and leaving the crash scene.
—Kayla Dwyer, The Indianapolis Star, 6 Nov. 2024
See all Example Sentences for plead 
Articles Related to plead
Dictionary Entries Near plead
Cite this Entry
“Plead.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/plead. Accessed 26 Nov. 2024.
Copy CitationKids Definition
plead
verb
or pled
Legal Definition
plead
verb
; pleading
Kansas Statutes Annotated Kumaran v. Brotman, 617 N.E.2d 191 (1993)Anglo-French plaider to argue in a court of law, from Old French plaid legal action, trial more at plea
Share