Definitions

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

  • noun Entreaty in favor of another, especially a prayer or petition to God in behalf of another.
  • noun Mediation in a dispute.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun The act of interceding; mediation; interposition between parties; solicitation or entreaty in behalf of, or sometimes against, a person or an action.
  • noun In liturgics, a petition or group of petitions for various orders of men and classes in the church, whether living or departed; a form of conjoint or mutual prayer for or with the living, the departed, saints, and angels.

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

  • noun The act of interceding; mediation; interposition between parties at variance, with a view to reconcilation; prayer, petition, or entreaty in favor of, or (less often) against, another or others.

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

  • noun The act of intervening or mediating between two parties
  • noun A prayer to God on behalf of another person

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

  • noun the act of intervening (as to mediate a dispute, etc.)
  • noun a prayer to God on behalf of another person

Etymologies

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

[Middle English, from Old French, from Latin intercessiō, intercessiōn-, intervention, from intercessus, past participle of intercēdere, to intervene; see intercede.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Early 15th century, from Latin intercessionem, from intercēdō, from inter- ("between") + cēdō ("I go") (English cede), literally “go-between”.

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