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Pleaded vs. Pled

For the past tense of to plead, you may use either pleaded or pled.

Example: He will plead not guilty to the charges.
Example: He pleaded not guilty before his trial.
Example: He pled not guilty before his trial.

Note: In the strict legal sense, one cannot plead innocent.

Word of the Week

Avuncular: Having to do with an uncle, especially in kindness or tolerance.

Example: He showed her avuncular affection.


Posted on Tuesday, April 8th, 2008, at 2:54 am

11 Comments

11 Responses to “Pleaded vs. Pled”

  1. dmpassmore says:
    January 22, 2012 at 6:36 pm

    Thank you. I have wondered about the difference.

    Reply
  2. Safiya says:
    March 11, 2012 at 7:21 am

    I have wondered about this A Lot because it seems that there has a been a trend by newspapers away from pled and to pleaded – have asked multiple attornies, but none of them could give me such a clear response! Thank you!

    Reply
  3. Jared says:
    May 9, 2012 at 8:15 pm

    Always nice to get a concise answer to which word to use. I was beginning to think reporters/writers were losing the ability to use the English language. Of course this wasn’t the only thing I’ve read that made me think that…(a Yahoo writer used yoke when talking about an egg yolk, sigh)…Anyway, thanks much and no matter how many times I hear/see pleaded, its always going to feel wrong to my brain.

    Reply
  4. jim purdy says:
    January 15, 2013 at 5:32 pm

    I maintain; if pleaded is ok instead of pled then is bleeded ok instead of bled?
    JP

    Reply
    • Jane says:
      January 16, 2013 at 10:19 pm

      And leaded instead of led, feeded instead of fed, sayed instead of said, etc. As you have no doubt noticed many times, in English there are so many nonstandard forms and exceptions to the rules that sometimes you just have to know the right answer or look it up in the dictionary.

      By the way, “Wiktionary” does acknowledge the word bleeded and says, “When used to refer to the loss of blood, this term is nonstandard, it should be bled. When used to refer to (e.g.) a bleed valve, or to a graphic that exceeds the edge of a printed page, this usage is an alternative to bled.” The other dictionaries that I consulted do not acknowledge the word.

      Reply
  5. jim pitts says:
    March 3, 2013 at 2:23 pm

    Alas, at the age of 79, I wonder why my old english teachers in both High School and College – not to mention my parents – were so adimant about grammar and punctuation. It had something to do with clarity of thought and cmmunication. Pleaded??? Might as well scrape fingernails across the chalk board.

    Reply
    • Jane says:
      March 5, 2013 at 7:39 am

      Rules change over time. Pleaded may be an irritant for you. However, not capitalizing the word English, incorrectly capitalizing high school and college, misspelling adamant and communication, and placing more than one question mark at the end of a sentence, all of these in a two-line note, scream fingernails across the chalk board to me.

      Reply
      • Nancy says:
        April 10, 2013 at 8:48 pm

        Touche, Jane (your response to Jim Pitts). And thank you for the site – I have also wondered about the pleaded/pled usage distinction.

        Reply

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