WordWeb Online

1. Appeal or request earnestly
    
2. Offer as an excuse or plea
   "She was pleading insanity"
    
3. Enter a plea, as in courts of law
    
4. Make an allegation in an action or other legal proceeding, especially answer the previous pleading of the other party by denying facts therein stated or by alleging new facts

Derived forms: pleading, pleads, pleaded, pled

See also: pleader, pleading

Type of: allege, apologise [Brit], apologize, appeal, aver, declare, excuse, invoke, justify, rationalise [Brit], rationalize, say

Encyclopedia: Plead