Supplicant
noun
A person who asks for something in a respectful way from a powerful person or God.
He stood before the king as a supplicant, begging for mercy.
Often appears as...
- humble supplicant
- desperate supplicant
Usage tips
Formal
noun
A person who prays to God, especially in an urgent manner for a specific reason.
As a supplicant, she prayed fervently for her sick child's recovery.
Often appears as...
- devout supplicant
- fervent supplicant
Usage tips
Formal
Religious
noun
A person who asks for something in a respectful way from a powerful person or God.
He stood before the king as a supplicant, begging for mercy.
Often appears as...
- humble supplicant
- desperate supplicant
Usage tips
Formal
noun
A person who prays to God, especially in an urgent manner for a specific reason.
As a supplicant, she prayed fervently for her sick child's recovery.
Often appears as...
- devout supplicant
- fervent supplicant
Usage tips
Formal
Religious
Definition 1 of 2
Pro Tip 1/3Respectful Request
Use 'supplicant' when someone is asking respectfully, showing humility or reverence to someone in power.
The supplicant approached the council with head bowed.
Pro Tip 2/3Not Always Religious
'Supplicant' doesn't only apply to religious contexts; it can be used in various situations where help is sought.
The student was a supplicant for financial aid.
Pro Tip 3/3Power Dynamics
The term often implies a clear distinction in power between the supplicant and who they are appealing to.
A supplicant seeking an audience with the CEO
Pro Tip 1/3Respectful Request
Use 'supplicant' when someone is asking respectfully, showing humility or reverence to someone in power.
The supplicant approached the council with head bowed.
Pro Tip 2/3Not Always Religious
'Supplicant' doesn't only apply to religious contexts; it can be used in various situations where help is sought.
The student was a supplicant for financial aid.
Pro Tip 3/3Power Dynamics
The term often implies a clear distinction in power between the supplicant and who they are appealing to.
A supplicant seeking an audience with the CEO
Pro Tip 1/3Respectful Request
Use 'supplicant' when someone is asking respectfully, showing humility or reverence to someone in power.
The supplicant approached the council with head bowed.
Pro Tip 2/3Not Always Religious
'Supplicant' doesn't only apply to religious contexts; it can be used in various situations where help is sought.
The student was a supplicant for financial aid.
Pro Tip 3/3Power Dynamics
The term often implies a clear distinction in power between the supplicant and who they are appealing to.
A supplicant seeking an audience with the CEO
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Video examples
Bono: The good news on...
you can't not use them. Once you have this knowledge, you can't un-know it. You can't delete this data from your brain, but you can delete the cliched image of supplicant, impoverished peoples not taking control of their own lives. You can erase that, you really can,
Video examples
Why do we have museums?...
Supplicants asked the Muses to keep watch over academics and grant ingenuity to those they deemed worthy. The temples were filled with offerings of sculptures, mosaics, complex scientific apparatuses, poetic and literary inscriptions,
Video examples
Bono: The good news on...
you can't not use them. Once you have this knowledge, you can't un-know it. You can't delete this data from your brain, but you can delete the cliched image of supplicant, impoverished peoples not taking control of their own lives. You can erase that, you really can,
Video examples
Why do we have museums?...
Supplicants asked the Muses to keep watch over academics and grant ingenuity to those they deemed worthy. The temples were filled with offerings of sculptures, mosaics, complex scientific apparatuses, poetic and literary inscriptions,
Example 1 of 2
Quote examples
James Meredith
American Celebrity
I've always found the rhetoric of mainstream civil rights leaders and organizations to be far too timid, accommodationist, and gradualist. It always seemed to me that they behaved like meek and gentle supplicants begging the oppressor for a few crumbs of justice, for a few molecules of citizenship rights.
Quote examples
Jon Lovett
American Producer
I am very glad that Paul Ryan left the government as a capitulating supplicant to Donald Trump while the government was shut down, while the debt hit record levels, right? Every single thing Paul Ryan claimed to care about.
Quote examples
Martin Jacques
British Journalist
The 21st century will be quite unlike the preceding two centuries, in which power was located in Europe and the U.S., and the rest of the world consisted of mere supplicants and bit players.
Quote examples
James Meredith
American Celebrity
I've always found the rhetoric of mainstream civil rights leaders and organizations to be far too timid, accommodationist, and gradualist. It always seemed to me that they behaved like meek and gentle supplicants begging the oppressor for a few crumbs of justice, for a few molecules of citizenship rights.
Quote examples
Jon Lovett
American Producer
I am very glad that Paul Ryan left the government as a capitulating supplicant to Donald Trump while the government was shut down, while the debt hit record levels, right? Every single thing Paul Ryan claimed to care about.
Quote examples
Martin Jacques
British Journalist
The 21st century will be quite unlike the preceding two centuries, in which power was located in Europe and the U.S., and the rest of the world consisted of mere supplicants and bit players.
Example 1 of 3
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