Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • intransitive verb To appeal to in supplication; beseech: synonym: beg.
  • intransitive verb To beg for urgently.
  • intransitive verb To make an earnest appeal.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To call upon in supplication; beseech or entreat; pray or petition earnestly.
  • To pray or beg for earnestly; seek to obtain by supplication or entreaty: as, to implore aid or pardon.
  • Synonyms Request, Beg, etc. See ask and solicit.
  • To supplicate; entreat.
  • noun Earnest supplication.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun obsolete Imploration.
  • transitive verb To call upon, or for, in supplication; to beseech; to pray to, or for, earnestly; to petition with urgency; to entreat; to beg; -- followed directly by the word expressing the thing sought, or the person from whom it is sought.
  • intransitive verb To entreat; to beg; to prey.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • verb To beg for, to entreat urgently or earnestly.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • verb call upon in supplication; entreat

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Latin implōrāre : in-, toward; see in– + plōrāre, to weep.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

French implorer, Latin implōrō ("beseech, implore").

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Examples

  • It requested the President “to appoint a day for humiliation and prayer” and to ask the people “to convene at their usual places of worship” in order that they may “confess and repent of their manifold sins, implore the compassion and forgiveness of the Almighty, that, if consistent with his will the existing rebellion may be speedily suppressed” and “implore him as the supreme ruler of the world not to destroy us as a people.

    Chapter X 1917

  • I would again implore ... not to let this opportunity pass.

    Ontario and the Constitutional Proposals 1981

  • I send you ten shillings for pocket-money, and again implore you to let Mrs. Bax have a little rest and peace.

    New Treasure Seekers Edith 1925

  • The letter I send this year will again implore you.

    Fir-Flower Tablets: Poems Translated From the Chinese 1921

  • Besides, if we can obtain from them even this admission, that those who are not yet baptized implore the aid of the saviour's grace, this will indeed be no small matter against that false defense of nature, as being sufficient for itself, and of the power of free will.

    The Works of James Arminius, Vol. 2 1560-1609 1956

  • Joss-house, and in the most abject terms implore forgiveness for his intemperate language over-night.

    Under the Dragon Flag My Experiences in the Chino-Japanese War James Allan

  • When by the next morning he had slept off his debauch, and came round to recollection of his enormities, his penitence knew no bounds; he would prostrate himself in the Joss-house, and in the most abject terms implore forgiveness for his intemperate language over-night.

    Under the Dragon Flag Allan, James 1898

  • While Astro Coast may include sunny tunes like "Take It Easy" and "Floating Vibes" (songs that sound exactly like their titles implore), you'll also find harrowing, existential episodes like "Harmonix," where lead singer John Paul Pitts, swathed in thick reverb and echo, sings, "I won't wait around for the grass to grow back now."

    the latest from teenvogue.com 2010

  • She implored me -- she used the word 'implore' -- to fly from her, to leave her to her fate, to endeavour to find happiness with some one else. "

    Varney the vampire; or, The feast of blood. Volume 1 1847

  • I implore you, in fact '(yes, that word,' implore 'was uttered!),' to tell me the whole truth, without mincing matters.

    The Possessed 2003

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