What's the difference between grovel and plead?

Grovel


Definition:

  • (adv.) To creep on the earth, or with the face to the ground; to lie prone, or move uneasily with the body prostrate on the earth; to lie fiat on one's belly, expressive of abjectness; to crawl.
  • (adv.) To tend toward, or delight in, what is sensual or base; to be low, abject, or mean.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) Lord Young , the prime minister's enterprise adviser, was forced to issue a grovelling apology last night after he claimed most Britons "had never had it so good during this so called recession".
  • (2) And instead of celebrating bumper peak viewing figures of more than 20m for the England match, ITV was instead having to issue a grovelling apology.
  • (3) If they want me to get down and grovel on the floor; no, never.
  • (4) I was showing a person groveling to take back a statement made long ago!
  • (5) This week his previous grovelling before communist China over steel tariffs has returned to haunt him.
  • (6) From 1969 to 1985 he also wrote the Grovel gossip column in Private Eye, whose then editor, Richard Ingrams, dubbed him the Greatest Living Englishman despite, or because of, more writs.
  • (7) It didn't happen and, as Simon Jenkins put it , "Cameron could hardly have grovelled lower.
  • (8) "With her blonde hair and her ability to ask the most grovelling questions, she is rapidly becoming the female Fabricant – or at least Fabricant Mark I, before he stopped crawling and became an elder statesman."
  • (9) There's even a slot called Friday Boss, in which the programme's usual rules of engagement are set aside and its reporters grovel before the corporate idol.
  • (10) Bashir immediately erupted in a ball of fiery rage, cutting Hardin off, refusing to let him speak, repeatedly demanding an apology for this grievous assault on the integrity of a military man, and then – when Hardin failed sufficiently to grovel for the crime of speaking ill of Gen Dempsey – Bashir kicked Hardin off the show by abruptly ending the interview.
  • (11) The Countess of Wessex, 2001 Sophie Wessex reportedly had to write grovelling apologies to Prince Charles, Tony Blair and William Hague after Mahmood lured her into making highly embarrassing comments about them.
  • (12) Some MPs are saying the better solution would be to fine them, rather than to require them to grovel in front of the highest court in the land.
  • (13) Organisers of a conference celebrating the best and brightest businesspeople in the north of England have issued a grovelling apology over lack of female representation.
  • (14) HSBC has made mistakes in the past, and for them I am very sorry,” his successor Douglas Flint, the former long-serving finance director, told shareholders in July 2012: “Candidly, in particular areas we fell short of the standards that I, my colleagues, our regulators, customers, and investors expect.” A grovel was the only position Flint could adopt.
  • (15) The response from architects grovelling for the fame of a tower in their CVs is that they are "only obeying orders" from clients, and that tall buildings are "the future".
  • (16) For the 100th time, I never “mocked” a disabled reporter (would never do that) but simply showed him “groveling” when he totally changed a 16 year old story that he had written in order to make me look bad.
  • (17) There, in all its hilarious glory, is the joke by Jimmy Carr that was transmitted on Loose Ends at the weekend, for the broadcast of which the BBC has issued a grovelling apology.
  • (18) It sees him mock his own grovelling appearance on BBC Newsnight in November, when he admitted that Dapper Laughs was “a type of comedy that I should not have been doing”.
  • (19) Michael Richards Made a grovelling apology over his 2006 rant in which he used the N-word, paradoxically on David Letterman's show.
  • (20) It said the intent was to demonstrate a resolute stand with places that share America's values – a hint at the Republican contender's claim that Obama has let down Washington's friends abroad while offering grovelling apologies to its enemies.

Plead


Definition:

  • () of Plead
  • (v. t.) To argue in support of a claim, or in defense against the claim of another; to urge reasons for or against a thing; to attempt to persuade one by argument or supplication; to speak by way of persuasion; as, to plead for the life of a criminal; to plead with a judge or with a father.
  • (v. t.) To present an answer, by allegation of fact, to the declaration of a plaintiff; to deny the plaintiff's declaration and demand, or to allege facts which show that ought not to recover in the suit; in a less strict sense, to make an allegation of fact in a cause; to carry on the allegations of the respective parties in a cause; to carry on a suit or plea.
  • (v. t.) To contend; to struggle.
  • (v. t.) To discuss, defend, and attempt to maintain by arguments or reasons presented to a tribunal or person having uthority to determine; to argue at the bar; as, to plead a cause before a court or jury.
  • (v. t.) To allege or cite in a legal plea or defense, or for repelling a demand in law; to answer to an indictment; as, to plead usury; to plead statute of limitations; to plead not guilty.
  • (v. t.) To allege or adduce in proof, support, or vendication; to offer in excuse; as, the law of nations may be pleaded in favor of the rights of ambassadors.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) We could do with similar action to cut out botnets and spam, but there aren't any big-money lobbyists coming to Mandelson pleading loss of business through those.
  • (2) Coup leader Captain Amadou Sanogo on Friday pleaded for foreign help to preserve the territorial integrity of the former French colony, a major gold and cotton producer.
  • (3) As Greece pleads with its eurozone creditors for more time in meeting its fiscal adjustment targets, Dombrovskis is a fierce champion of surgical austerity applied quickly and ruthlessly.
  • (4) Seven more were charged in the US and four more, including the former Concacaf general secretary Chuck Blazer, pleaded guilty.
  • (5) Commanders were calling Roberts on his mobile phone, pleading for help.
  • (6) One little boy grabbed me and pleaded with me, that the Jungle was not a good place, and he didn’t want to be there.” Last month, protesters staged a die-in at St Pancras station in London against plans to clear the area of the Jungle.
  • (7) The results observed plead in favour of the notion that frozen-defrosted blood, combines the advantages of washed blood, freed from all plasma and cellular contaminants of fresh blood with preservation of the oxyphoric power.
  • (8) It stated that, at the Place du Canada rally, prime minister Pierre Trudeau pleaded with Quebecers to vote no.
  • (9) One group of clergy had spent the evening marching through the west side, pleading with people to remain peaceful.
  • (10) Artists round the globe may plead free speech, but to treat the Pussy Riot gesture as a glorious stand for artistic liberty is like praising Johnny Rotten, who did similar things, as the Voltaire of our day.
  • (11) Wildstein, a high-ranking Port Authority official, pleaded guilty to orchestrating the scheme and was the prosecution’s star witness .
  • (12) The film director faced a jail term after he pleaded guilty to having unlawful sex with Samantha Gailey (now Geimer), then aged 13.
  • (13) Next to Aung San Suu Kyi was General Zaw Win, deputy minister for border affairs, who accompanied the Guardian to Rakhine state in December, where he openly laughed at a teary-eyed Rohingya man in an internally displaced persons camp who pleaded : "We are real Rohingya – please recognise us."
  • (14) The Premier League set up a disciplinary tribunal to try West Ham, who in April 2007 pleaded guilty.
  • (15) And secretary of state Hillary Clinton, visiting Hungary in 2011, pleaded for “a real commitment to the independence of the judiciary, a free press, and governmental transparency”.
  • (16) Sydney siege inquest: hostage pleaded with police to storm Lindt cafe urgently Read more They had taken cover after the final group to escape the siege had successfully fled in the early hours of 16 December 2014.
  • (17) David Coleman Headley, 49, pleaded guilty in a US court yesterday to all 12 counts he faced.
  • (18) But when it was suggested by the court that he could face five years in prison if he fought the charges he pleaded guilty – and was then shocked when he was handed 18 months in military detention rather than the expected suspended sentence.
  • (19) Breadline defendants are choosing to plead guilty and pay the £150 rather than run the risk of an even higher charge by pleading not guilty.
  • (20) Gun sales are continuing to spike around Ferguson, Missouri, as security firms plead with authorities to make it easier for them to hire new guards in advance of a grand jury’s decision on whether to charge a white police officer for shooting dead an unarmed black 18-year-old.