pleas

noun

plural of plea
1
as in appeals
an earnest request the captive made an impassioned plea for his life to be spared

Synonyms & Similar Words

Relevance
2
as in excuses
an explanation that frees one from fault or blame my only plea is that I've been overworked lately

Synonyms & Similar Words

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of pleas All six defendants were arraigned in the 37th District Court before Judge Bieda, where pleas of not guilty were entered, and a $500,000 bond was set for each suspect, with the requirement that a steel-cuff GPS tether be used if bond is posted. — Karma Sabbah, CBS News, 16 Oct. 2026 Mom makes final pleas Pedraza, Sierra’s mother, walked out of the courtroom in tears Wednesday evening after completing her testimony. — Grethel Aguila, Miami Herald, 15 Oct. 2026 Federal agencies have investigated individual operators for employing young Israelis on tourist visas to sell these products, resulting in more than a dozen guilty pleas for visa fraud and money-laundering schemes. — Monika Evstatieva, NPR, 14 Oct. 2026 Harris didn't wait for an officer to respond to his pleas and pushed his way out of the room. — ABC News, 14 Oct. 2026 For about a year, Austin Davis’ phone has been flooded with hundreds of pleas for help from across the Phoenix metropolitan area. — Nicole Santa Cruz, ProPublica, 7 Oct. 2026 And they have been put through the wringer by Iran, not being seen or heard by regime authorities in Iran, despite their pleas for justice and redress. — Etan Vlessing, HollywoodReporter, 5 Oct. 2026 Defendants can enter pleas at such hearings, or a judge can schedule the case further out for trial. — Joe Marusak, Charlotte Observer, 3 Oct. 2026 The optometrist and another co-defendant have entered guilty pleas in the prosecution and are expected to testify against Diamantis. — Kevin Rennie, Hartford Courant, 3 Oct. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for pleas
  1. appeals
  2. excuses
  3. prayers
  4. justifications
  5. petitions
  6. reasons
Noun
  • The curators, David Breslin and Brinda Kumar, don’t accomplish this with appeals to timeliness or relevance but with a mighty selection of pieces—more than a hundred and twenty, from eighty-two different institutions—and smart exhibition design.
    — Zachary Fine, New Yorker, 14 Oct. 2026
  • Michael Rider’s Celine appeals to me for its approach to the contemporary wardrobe.
    — Madeleine Schulz, Vogue, 14 Oct. 2026
Definition of appeals
Noun
  • The town council will give so many excuses as to why they were approved.
    — Stephen Korka, Sun Sentinel, 13 Oct. 2026
  • The rules, which are never explained, are put there as flimsy excuses for aspects of the pilot that don’t hold together otherwise.
    — Daniel Fienberg, HollywoodReporter, 8 Oct. 2026
Definition of excuses
Noun
  • Thank you all for your outpouring of love, well wishes, and healing prayers.
    — Chris Willman, Variety, 12 Oct. 2026
  • The cousin had made it to the top of the suicide-bomber list at Menagh, said his prayers, and taken his position behind the driver’s seat in a truck full of explosives.
    — Ben Taub, New Yorker, 12 Oct. 2026
Definition of prayers
Noun
  • Well, it’s generally focused on the origins of and justifications for Baldwin’s multi-decade persecution complex.
    — Daniel Fienberg, HollywoodReporter, 6 Oct. 2026
  • Even the characters involved in the season’s intriguing, yet infuriating, cliffhanger ending have justifications for their schemes.
    — Roxana Hadadi, Vulture, 6 Oct. 2026
Definition of justifications
Noun
  • In September 2025, the administration introduced a $100,000 fee on certain new H-1B petitions for workers hired from abroad.
    — Neetika Walter, Interesting Engineering, 8 Oct. 2026
  • Microsoft was a close fourth at 21,706 petitions for 2026, with a median base salary of $180,710.
    — CJ Haddad, CNBC, 8 Oct. 2026
Definition of petitions
Noun
  • Steve Sarkisian will not budge on this issue One of the primary reasons Manning chose to attend Texas was Sarkisian.
    — Mac Engel October 10, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 11 Oct. 2026
  • Palestinian officials cited conditions in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem as reasons for postponing the vote.
    — Stephen Sorace, FOXNews.com, 11 Oct. 2026
Definition of reasons

Browse Nearby Words

plead (to)
pleas
pleasance
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Pleas.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/pleas. Accessed 18 Oct. 2026.

Copy Citation
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See More

'Affect' vs. 'Effect'

Merriam-Webster’s Great Big List of Words You Love to Hate

The Exceptions of '-s' and '-es' Plurals

Is it 'nerve-racking' or 'nerve-wracking'?

What's the difference between 'fascism' and 'socialism'?
See More

Popular in Wordplay

See More

16 Food Words Recently Added to the Dictionary

The Real Origin of 'Supercalifragilistic'

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't

7 Words for Bad Endings and Rough Situations

The Words of the Week - Oct. 16
See More

Popular

See More

'Affect' vs. 'Effect'

16 Food Words Recently Added to the Dictionary

The Real Origin of 'Supercalifragilistic'
See More

Games & Quizzes

See All
Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries. Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.
Quordle Can you solve 4 words at once?
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.
Blossom Pick the best words!
Play Missing Letter: a crossword with a twist. Each of the 25 puzzle words start with a different letter of the alphabet. Which letter is missing?
The Missing Letter A daily crossword with a twist
artwork of illustrated limes with the text limes and smile with an arrow connecting the two words
Quiz: Spot the Anagram! Scramble these words to find new words with the e...
See All