Library / English Dictionary

ADVOCATE

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

A person who pleads for a cause or propounds an idea

Synonyms:

advocate; advocator; exponent; proponent

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Hypernyms ("advocate" is a kind of...):

individual; mortal; person; somebody; someone; soul (a human being)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "advocate"):

drumbeater; partisan; zealot (a fervent and even militant proponent of something)

partitionist (an advocate of partitioning a country)

Platonist (an advocate of Platonism)

pro-lifer (an advocate of full legal protection for embryos and fetuses; someone opposed to legalized induced abortion)

presenter; sponsor (an advocate who presents a person (as for an award or a degree or an introduction etc.))

protectionist (an advocate of protectionism)

republican (an advocate of a republic (usually in opposition to a monarchy))

ritualist (an advocate of strict observance of ritualistic forms)

ruralist (an advocate of rural living)

secessionist (an advocate of secessionism)

secularist (an advocate of secularism; someone who believes that religion should be excluded from government and education)

separationist; separatist (an advocate of secession or separation from a larger group (such as an established church or a national union))

interpreter; representative; spokesperson; voice (an advocate who represents someone else's policy or purpose)

suffragist (an advocate of the extension of voting rights (especially to women))

admirer; booster; champion; friend; protagonist; supporter (a person who backs a politician or a team etc.)

supremacist (a person who advocates the supremacy of some particular group or racial group over all others)

teleologist (advocate of teleology)

Thatcherite (an advocate of Thatcherism)

unilateralist (an advocate of unilateralism)

apologist; justifier; vindicator (a person who argues to defend or justify some policy or institution)

constitutionalist (an advocate of constitutional government)

Darwinian (an advocate of Darwinism)

democrat (an advocate of democratic principles)

populist (someone who advocates the rights of the common people over those of the elite)

federalist (an advocate of federalism)

Gnostic (an advocate of Gnosticism)

humanist; humanitarian (an advocate of the principles of humanism; someone concerned with the interests and welfare of humans)

ideologist; ideologue (an advocate of some ideology)

internationalist (an advocate of internationalism)

irredentist; irridentist (an advocate of irredentism)

isolationist (an advocate of isolationism in international affairs)

Jansenist (an advocate of Jansenism)

libertarian (an advocate of libertarianism)

Maoist (an advocate of Maoism)

Marxist (an advocate of Marxism)

nationalist (an advocate of national independence of or a strong national government)

neoclassicist (an advocate of neoclassicism)

neutralist (an advocate of neutrality in international affairs)

nullifier (an advocate of nullification; someone who believes that a state can resist federal laws)

Derivation:

advocate (speak, plead, or argue in favor of)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A lawyer who pleads cases in court

Synonyms:

advocate; counsel; counsellor; counselor; counselor-at-law; pleader

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Hypernyms ("advocate" is a kind of...):

attorney; lawyer (a professional person authorized to practice law; conducts lawsuits or gives legal advice)

Domain category:

jurisprudence; law (the collection of rules imposed by authority)

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Speak, plead, or argue in favor of

Example:

The doctor advocated a smoking ban in the entire house

Synonyms:

advocate; preach

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Hypernyms (to "advocate" is one way to...):

exhort; press; urge; urge on (force or impel in an indicated direction)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "advocate"):

moralise; moralize; preachify; sermonise; sermonize (speak as if delivering a sermon; express moral judgements)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s somebody to INFINITIVE
Somebody ----s that CLAUSE
Somebody ----s to somebody

Derivation:

advocacy (active support of an idea or cause etc.; especially the act of pleading or arguing for something)

advocate; advocator (a person who pleads for a cause or propounds an idea)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Push for something

Example:

The travel agent recommended strongly that we not travel on Thanksgiving Day

Synonyms:

advocate; recommend; urge

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Hypernyms (to "advocate" is one way to...):

advise; propose; suggest (make a proposal, declare a plan for something)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "advocate"):

prescribe (recommend as beneficial)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something
Somebody ----s that CLAUSE

Credits

 Context examples: 

Many a time has she said so; and yet I am no advocate for entire seclusion.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

How could you imagine me an advocate for marriage without love?

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

Consistency, my dear Mr. Brocklehurst; I advocate consistency in all things.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

The trial began, and after the advocate against her had stated the charge, several witnesses were called.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

The Association is also actively involved in advocating for scientific research and for the rights of people with diabetes.

(American Diabetes Association, NCI Thesaurus)

The DCLG will also help NCI to widen the pool of qualified consumer-advocates who can be called upon to serve on NCI advisory committees and other groups.

(NCI Director's Consumer Liaison Group, NCI Thesaurus)

Its mission is to communicate accurate information about cancer and NCI activities to a wide array of audiences, including: cancer patients, family members, health care providers, community health educators, advocates, Congress, the media, and the general public.

(Office of Communications, NCI Thesaurus)

The Neuroblastoma Children's Cancer Society is an advocate group dedicated to serving as a support center for children who suffer from neuroblastoma and their families and to fundraising and funding research efforts to develop new modalities of childhood neuroblastoma treatment.

(Neuroblastoma Children's Cancer Society, NCI Thesaurus)

Their members include leaders in laboratory, clinical, and population-based research drawn from the extramural and intramural research community, staff of the NIH and other government agencies, members of professional organizations, and interested consumers and patient advocates.

(Director's Working Group, NCI Thesaurus)

Leandra Gonçalves, a biologist at Brazil's SOS Mata Atlântica Foundation, said the ideia of a whale sanctuary has been advocated by the Brazilian government since 1999 to stop whaling in the South Atlantic.

(Brazil to support South Atlantic whale sanctuary bid, Agência BRASIL)