supplicate

Reading level: hard

Estimated CEFR level: C2 — Proficiency

Estimated from word frequency; not an official CEFR classification.

Definition

  1. verb ask humbly (for something)
  2. verb make a humble, earnest petition
  3. verb ask for humbly or earnestly, as in prayer

Etymology

PIE word *upó From Late Middle English supplicaten (“to request (that someone do something)”) [and other forms], borrowed from Latin supplicātus (“prayed”) + Middle English -en (suffix forming the infinitive of verbs). Supplicātus is the perfect passive participle of supplicō (“to pray, supplicate; to beg, humbly beseech”) (see -ate (verb-forming suffix) for more), from sup- (variant of sub- (prefix meaning ‘below, beneath, under’)) + plicō (“to bend, flex; to fold; to roll up”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *pleḱ- (“to fold; to plait, weave”)).

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