Plea

• POS: Noun

CIDE DICTIONARY

Plea, n. [OE. plee, plai, plait, fr. OF. plait, plaid, plet, LL. placitum judgment, decision, assembly, court, fr. L. placitum that which is pleasing, an opinion, sentiment, from placere to please. See Please, and cf. Placit, Plead.].

•  That which is alleged by a party in support of his cause; in a stricter sense, an allegation of fact in a cause, as distinguished from a demurrer; in a still more limited sense, and in modern practice, the defendant's answer to the plaintiff's declaration and demand. That which the plaintiff alleges in his declaration is answered and repelled or justified by the defendant's plea. In chancery practice, a plea is a special answer showing or relying upon one or more things as a cause why the suit should be either dismissed, delayed, or barred. In criminal practice, the plea is the defendant's formal answer to the indictment or information presented against him.  [1913 Webster]
•  A cause in court; a lawsuit; as, the Court of Common Pleas. See under Common.  [1913 Webster]

  "The Supreme Judicial Court shall have cognizance of pleas real, personal, and mixed."  [1913 Webster]
•  That which is alleged or pleaded, in defense or in justification; an excuse; an apology.  Milton.  [1913 Webster]

  "No plea must serve; 't is cruelty to spare."  [1913 Webster]
•  An urgent prayer or entreaty.  [1913 Webster]

Pleas of the crown (Eng. Law), criminal actions.

OXFORD DICTIONARY

Plea, n.
1 an earnest appeal or entreaty.
2 Law a formal statement by or on behalf of a defendant.
3 an argument or excuse.

Idiom

plea bargaining US an arrangement between prosecutor and defendant whereby the defendant pleads guilty to a lesser charge in the expectations of leniency.

Etymology

ME & AF ple, plai, OF plait, plaid agreement, discussion f. L placitum a decree, neut. past part. of placere to please

THESAURUS

Plea

adjuration, alibi, answer, apology, appeal, application, argument, argumentum, beseechment, bid, call, case, clamor, cons, consideration, counterstatement, cry, defence, defense, demurrer, denial, elenchus, entreaty, exception, excuse, explanation, extenuation, ignoratio elenchi, imploration, imploring, imprecation, invocation, invocatory plea, justification, mitigation, objection, obsecration, obtestation, out, overture, palliation, petition, plaidoyer, pleading, pleadings, prayer, pretext, pros, pros and cons, reason, rebuttal, refutation, reply, request, response, right, riposte, rogation, solicitation, special demurrer, special pleading, statement of defense, suit, supplication, talking point, vindication

ROGET THESAURUS

Plea

Pretext

N pretext, pretense, pretension, plea, allegation, advocation, ostensible motive, ostensible ground, ostensible reason, phony reason, excuse, subterfuge, color, gloss, guise, cover, loop hole, starting hole, how to creep out of, salvo, come off, way of escape, handle, peg to hang on, room locus standi, stalking-horse, cheval de bataille, cue, pretense, put off, dust thrown in the eyes, blind, moonshine, mere pretext, shallow pretext, lame excuse, lame apology, tub to a whale, false plea, sour grapes, makeshift, shift, white lie, special pleading, soft sawder, ostensibly, alleged, apologetic, pretended, ostensibly, under color, under the plea, under the pretense of, under the guise of.

Lawsuit

N lawsuit, suit, action, cause, litigation, suit in law, dispute, citation, arraignment, prosecution, impeachment, accusation, presentment, true bill, indictment, apprehension, arrest, committal, imprisonment, writ, summons, subpoena, latitat, nisi prius, venire, venire facias pleadings, declaration, bill, claim, proces verbal, bill of right, information, corpus delicti, affidavit, state of facts, answer, reply, replication, plea, demurrer, rebutter, rejoinder, surrebutter, surrejoinder, suitor, party to a suit, plaintiff, defendant, litigant, hearing, trial, verdict, appeal, appeal motion, writ of error, certiorari, case, decision, precedent, decided case, reports (legal reference works, see reference books), litigious, qui tam, coram judice, sub judice, pendente lite, adhuc sub judice lis est, accedas ad curiam, transeat in exemplum.

Vindication

N vindication, justification, warrant, exoneration, exculpation, acquittal, whitewashing, extenuation, palliation, palliative, softening, mitigation, reply, defense, recrimination, apology, gloss, varnish, plea, salvo, excuse, extenuating circumstances, allowance, allowance to be made, locus paenitentiae, apologist, vindicator, justifier, defendant, justifiable charge, true bill, v, justify, warrant, be an excuse for, lend a color, furnish a handle, vindicate, exculpate, disculpate, acquit, clear, set right, exonerate, whitewash, clear the skirts of, extenuate, palliate, excuse, soften, apologize, varnish, slur, gloze, put a gloss, put a good face upon, mince, gloss over, bolster up, help a lame dog over a stile, advocate, defend, plead one's cause, stand up for, stick up for, speak up for, contend for, speak for, bear out, keep in countenance, support, plead, say in defense, plead ignorance, confess and avoid, propugn, put in a good word for, take the will for the deed, make allowance for, give credit for, do justice to, give one his due, give the Devil his due, make good, prove the truth of, prove one's case, be justified by the event, vindicated, vindicating, exculpatory, apologetic, excusable, defensible, pardonable, venial, veniable, specious, plausible, justifiable, honi sot qui mal y pense, good wine needs no bush.

Counter Evidence

N counter evidence, evidence on the other side, evidence on the other hand, conflicting evidence, contradictory evidence, opposing evidence, disproof, refutation, negation, plea, vindication, counter protest, 'tu quoque' argument, other side of the shield, other side of the coin, reverse of the shield, countervailing, contradictory, unattested, unauthenticated, unsupported by evidence, supposititious, on the contrary, per contra.