plead

verb (past pleaded or pled /pled/)

• 1 [reporting verb] make an emotional appeal: [no object]:they pleaded with Carol to come home again [with direct speech]:“Don’t go,” she pleaded [with infinitive]:Anne pleaded to go with her

• 2 [with object] present and argue for (a position), especially in court or in another public context:using cheap melodrama to plead the case for three prisoners
• [no object] Law address a court as an advocate on behalf of a party.
• [no object, with complement] Law state formally in court whether one is guilty or not guilty of the offense with which one is charged:he pleaded guilty to the drug charge
• Law invoke (a reason or a point of law) as an accusation or defense:on trial for attempted murder, she pleaded self-defense
• offer or present as an excuse for doing or not doing something:he pleaded family commitments as a reason for not attending