- plea
- noun1 requestADJECTIVE▪ desperate, strong, urgent▪ emotional, heartfelt, impassioned, passionate▪
She made an emotional plea for her daughter's killer to be caught.
▪ repeated▪ final▪a final plea for his life
▪ personalVERB + PLEA▪ make▪ issue▪ ignorePREPOSITION▪ despite a/the plea▪Despite pleas from his mother, the gunman refused to give himself up.
▪ plea by, plea from▪Hospital visiting hours were extended in response to pleas from patients.
▪ plea for▪The director of the charity made an impassioned plea for help.
2 statement in courtADJECTIVE▪ guilty▪ not guilty▪ insanity (AmE)VERB + PLEA▪ enter▪ hear▪ change▪ accept▪The prosecution accepted a plea of manslaughter.
▪ support (esp. BrE)▪These facts cannot support a plea of diminished responsibility.
▪ rejectPLEA + NOUN▪ bargain, bargaining (usually plea-bargaining)▪They received suspended prison sentences after plea-bargaining by their lawyers.
▪ agreement (AmE)▪The terms of the plea agreements weren't disclosed.
PREPOSITION▪ plea for▪A senior judge heard a plea for damages on behalf of the accident victims.
▪ plea of▪Her lawyer entered a plea of guilty on her behalf.
PHRASES▪ cop a plea (= admit in court to being guilty of a small crime in the hope of receiving less severe punishment for a more serious crime) (AmE, informal)▪The feds said that if I didn't cop a plea, I'd get about 15 years.
Collocations dictionary. 2013.