Definition of ADVOCATE

advocate

Plural: advocates

Noun

  • a person who pleads for a cause or propounds an idea
  • a lawyer who pleads cases in court
  • 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

Verb Forms: advocated, advocating, advocates

  • To publicly recommend or support.
  • push for something
  • speak, plead, or argue in favor of
    • "The doctor advocated a smoking ban in the entire house"
  • 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.

Examples

  • I like trees, but I do not advocate living in them.
  • I will always advocate for challenging a word you don’t recognize.
  • Since she started working with her advocate, she has become much more confident.
  • We have been advocating for changes in immigration law.

Origin / 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).

Scrabble Score: 14

advocate: valid Scrabble (US) TWL Word
advocate: valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
advocate: valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary

Words With Friends Score: 16

advocate: valid Words With Friends Word