advocate

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun

Someone whose job is to speak for someone's case in a court of law; a counsel.
Anyone who argues the case of another; an intercessor.
A person who speaks in support of something, or someone; proponent
A person who supports others to make their voices heard, or ideally for them to speak up for themselves.

verb

To plead in favour of; to defend by argument, before a tribunal or the public; to support, vindicate, or recommend publicly.
To encourage support for something.
To engage in advocacy.
To appeal from an inferior court to the Court of Session.
To call a case before itself for decision.

Pronunciation

/ˈæd.və.kət/ en-us-advocate-noun.ogg LL-Q1860 (eng)-Back ache-advocate.wav /ˈæd.və.keɪt/ en-us-advocate-verb.ogg /əɖvɵˈkeʈ/

Word forms

advocate advocates advocating advocated

Etymology

From Middle English advocat, advoket, from Old French advocat, from Latin advocātus (“an advocate”), from the substantivization of the perfect passive participle of advocāre (“to call for”) (see -ate (noun-forming suffix)), from a calque of Ancient Greek παράκλητος (paráklētos) (whence English paraclete). Doublet of advoke, avocat, avouch, and avow. The verb derives from the noun on the basis of -ate (verb-forming suffix).

Synonyms

attorney counselor abogado advocate avocat counsel latitat lawman lawyer legal representative limb of the law man of law

Related words

advocacy advocation advocator avocate

Derived words

advocate general advocateship advocatess advocatory angel's advocate badvocate devil's advocate God's advocate judge advocate nonadvocate special education advocate subadvocate Windvocate advocater advocative hyperadvocate

This entry uses open data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA/GFDL). Word forms are used for search and are not indexed as separate pages.

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