as in supplicant
one who asks earnestly for a favor or gift
didn't like being in the position of a suppliant, having to ask her parents to help her pay the rent on her apartment
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as in prayerful
asking humbly
the suppliant thief pleaded for a second chance
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Recent Examples of suppliant
Teju Cole, New York Times, 12 Sep. 2023
Like other Te Deums, the work is both laudatory and suppliant, petitioning the divine for continued mercy.
—Hannah Edgar, chicagotribune.com, 21 Aug. 2021
It was thought that Betelgeuse was bigger than the orbit of Jupiter in our Solar System, but recent studies suggest that the red suppliant star is about a third less than that at about 750 the radius of our Sun.
—Jamie Carter, Forbes, 16 June 2021
William pays price for grabbing The reaction of the male to his suppliants varies.
—National Geographic, 17 Apr. 2019
Part of the progress, according to Mr. Selee, is a reaction against President Trump’s Mexiphobia, but the underlying influences are long-term and irreversible: Mexico is no longer a feeble suppliant but a potent, necessary partner.
—Felipe Fernández-Armesto, WSJ, 25 June 2018
Melik Kaylan, Forbes.com, 5 May 2025
Furious at their alma maters’ embrace of DEI, suppression of free speech, hot-housing antisemitic bigotry, and so much more, college alumni are increasingly organizing and publicly challenging the administrations and suppliant boards of America’s leading universities.
—Jack Fowler, National Review, 28 Feb. 2025
Noun
And as happens with the testimonies of the suppliants at the Asclepieion, the stelae ferry the feelings and names of these distant others across the ages to us.
—Teju Cole, New York Times, 12 Sep. 2023
Like other Te Deums, the work is both laudatory and suppliant, petitioning the divine for continued mercy.
—Hannah Edgar, chicagotribune.com, 21 Aug. 2021
It was thought that Betelgeuse was bigger than the orbit of Jupiter in our Solar System, but recent studies suggest that the red suppliant star is about a third less than that at about 750 the radius of our Sun.
—Jamie Carter, Forbes, 16 June 2021
William pays price for grabbing The reaction of the male to his suppliants varies.
—National Geographic, 17 Apr. 2019
Part of the progress, according to Mr. Selee, is a reaction against President Trump’s Mexiphobia, but the underlying influences are long-term and irreversible: Mexico is no longer a feeble suppliant but a potent, necessary partner.
—Felipe Fernández-Armesto, WSJ, 25 June 2018
Adjective
Both are comfortable, however, with a weakened Iran that does their bidding, offers better deals, and becomes a more suppliant instrument of their regional ambitions.
—Melik Kaylan, Forbes.com, 5 May 2025
Furious at their alma maters’ embrace of DEI, suppression of free speech, hot-housing antisemitic bigotry, and so much more, college alumni are increasingly organizing and publicly challenging the administrations and suppliant boards of America’s leading universities.
—Jack Fowler, National Review, 28 Feb. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for suppliant
Noun
-
Now Zelensky arrives less as a supplicant and more like a friend and partner, while Russian President Vladimir Putin stews in the Kremlin, frozen—for the moment—from the diplomatic conversations.—
Tom Nagorski,
Time,
16 Oct. 2025
-
At best, the rulers who met in Doha on Monday act as supplicants, relying on the whims of a unpredictable US president to intercede with Israel’s leader.—
Ben Wedeman,
CNN Money,
16 Sep. 2025
Adjective
-
The Sagrada Família was founded as an expiatory church, meaning that it would be financed by prayerful donations from people atoning for their sins.—
D. T. Max,
New Yorker,
15 Sep. 2025
-
Pärt’s formulas, born out of long, prayerful periods with sacred texts, offer beauty in the warmth and friction of relationships: melody and tintinnabuli, word and the limits of language, sounds and silence.—
Jeffers Engelhardt,
The Conversation,
10 Sep. 2025
Noun
-
In Havana, beggars are ubiquitous.—
Jon Lee Anderson,
New Yorker,
29 Sep. 2025
-
Brando, the owner of an atoll in Tahiti, where his family dwelled, had become the beggar of Hollywood, who had to feed on crumbs.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
17 Sep. 2025
Noun
-
The trial court merely instructed counsel not to manage petitioner’s testimony during that break.—
Jack Birle,
The Washington Examiner,
6 Oct. 2025
-
The petitioners filed a petition for a writ of certiorari to the Supreme Court in April.—
Jenna Sundel,
MSNBC Newsweek,
3 Oct. 2025
Noun
-
His solicitor informed the judge there would be no application for bail at this stage, and that an Arabic interpreter had been booked to assist him during the proceedings, The Irish Times reported.—
Brendan Cole,
MSNBC Newsweek,
22 Oct. 2025
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The solicitor said key forensic evidence remains pending, writing that most of Dickey’s 40 prior arrests occurred outside his jurisdiction.—
Sarah Rumpf-Whitten,
FOXNews.com,
2 Oct. 2025
Noun
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Upon connecting with the link and entering the code, the recipient is presented with a drag-and-drop target for sharing files with the requester.—
PC Magazine,
PC Magazine,
7 Oct. 2025
-
The owner then digitally signs the request with the private key to prove to the CA that the requester does, in fact, have control of the private key.—
Dan Goodin,
ArsTechnica,
4 Sep. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Suppliant.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/suppliant. Accessed 29 Oct. 2025.
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