implore
- 01 C1 Advanced
to ask someone very strongly and emotionally to do something.
to entreat or beseech someone to perform an action, often out of desperation or urgent necessity.
Simple“The prisoner's family implored the judge to show mercy during the trial.”
In context“The refugees implored the border guards to grant them passage, citing the immediate danger they faced in their home country.”
UsageOften followed by an object and a to-infinitive: 'implore someone to do something'.
Teacher's tipThis word is much stronger than 'ask' or 'request'; it suggests the person is desperate or in a very serious situation.
- 02 C1 Advanced
to ask for something, like help or forgiveness, in a very serious way.
to plead for a specific thing or quality earnestly; can be used transitively or with the preposition 'for'.
Simple“She implored his forgiveness after realizing how much she had hurt him.”
In context“The starving villagers implored for aid as the winter supplies began to run dangerously low.”
UsageCan take a direct object ('implore mercy') or be used with 'for' ('implore for help').
Teacher's tipWhile the metadata suggests this is archaic, it remains active in formal writing, legal contexts, and dramatic literature.
“Morris also implored the media to be “mindful of your reporting” and to have regard for Arday’s family and the public.”
“Thousands of fans gathered in central Buenos Aires, while street signs throughout the capital displayed implored Messi to play on for Argentina.”
PIE word *h₁én The verb is borrowed from Middle French implorer (modern French implorer (“to beg, plead, implore”)), or directly from its etymon Latin implōrāre, the present active infinitive of implōrō (“to beseech, entreat, implore; to appeal to, pray to”), from im- (a variant of in- (intensifying prefix)) + plōrō (“to cry out; to complain, deplore, lament”) (possibly from Proto-Indo-European *pleh₃(w)- (“to flow; to swim”)). The noun is derived from the verb.
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.