1. A humble request for help from someone in authority
   "Her plea for additional funding fell on deaf ears";
   - supplication
    
2. An excuse or justification offered as a reason for an action or inaction
   "He missed the meeting on the plea of illness"
    
3. (law) a formal statement by a defendant in response to a charge, declaring guilt, innocence, or another legal argument
   "The defendant entered a plea of not guilty in court"

Derived forms: pleas

Type of: answer, appeal, entreaty, prayer, suppliance

Encyclopedia: Plea