Noun
the new governor soon had to deal with a long line of supplicants asking for jobs and other political favors Adjective
hated having to go before his boss like a supplicant beggar whenever he needed some time off to attend to personal matters
Recent Examples on the Web
Noun
Or, scarier still, from complete GOP control of Washington, with Trump in the White House, his supplicants running Congress and a pliant Supreme Court dismantling any guardrails keeping a vengeance-minded president in check.—Mark Z. Barabak, Los Angeles Times, 12 July 2024 Instead, surrounded by supplicants, Xi could persuade himself that a war for Taiwan would be fast.—Keren Yarhi-Milo, Foreign Affairs, 4 Aug. 2023
Adjective
For the first time in years, Xi appeared to have successfully positioned the United States as supplicant in the bilateral relationship.—Matt Pottinger, Foreign Affairs, 10 Apr. 2024 Speakers seemed alternately angry and supplicant, aware, at some level, their efforts probably won’t work.—Rachel Swan, San Francisco Chronicle, 22 July 2021 See all Example Sentences for supplicant
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'supplicant.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Word History
Etymology
Noun
Middle English, borrowed from Medieval Latin supplicant-, supplicans "petitioner," noun derivative from Latin supplicant-, supplicans, present participle of supplicāre "to seek the goodwill (of a person wronged) with peace offerings, supplicate"
Adjective
borrowed from Latin supplicant-, supplicans, present participle of supplicāre "to seek the goodwill (of a person wronged) with peace offerings, supplicate"
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