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SUPPLICATION
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I. (noun)
Sense 1
Meaning:
The act of communicating with a deity (especially as a petition or in adoration or contrition or thanksgiving)
Example:
the priest sank to his knees in prayer
Synonyms:
prayer; supplication
Classified under:
Nouns denoting acts or actions
Hypernyms ("supplication" is a kind of...):
worship (the activity of worshipping)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "supplication"):
devotion ((usually plural) religious observance or prayers (usually spoken silently))
benediction; blessing (the act of praying for divine protection)
Sense 2
Meaning:
A humble request for help from someone in authority
Synonyms:
plea; supplication
Classified under:
Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents
Hypernyms ("supplication" is a kind of...):
appeal; entreaty; prayer (earnest or urgent request)
Derivation:
supplicate (ask humbly (for something))
Sense 3
Meaning:
A prayer asking God's help as part of a religious service
Synonyms:
invocation; supplication
Classified under:
Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents
Hypernyms ("supplication" is a kind of...):
orison; petition; prayer (reverent petition to a deity)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "supplication"):
rogation (a solemn supplication ceremony prescribed by the church)
Holonyms ("supplication" is a part of...):
divine service; religious service; service (the act of public worship following prescribed rules)
Context examples:
He had followed them purposely to town, he had taken on himself all the trouble and mortification attendant on such a research; in which supplication had been necessary to a woman whom he must abominate and despise, and where he was reduced to meet, frequently meet, reason with, persuade, and finally bribe, the man whom he always most wished to avoid, and whose very name it was punishment to him to pronounce.
(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)
He threw himself on his knees, and held up his hands, wringing them in plaintive supplication, and poured forth a torrent of entreaty, with the tears rolling down his cheeks, and his whole face and form expressive of the deepest emotion:—Let me entreat you, Dr. Seward, oh, let me implore you, to let me out of this house at once.
(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)
Without attending to this, Henry Crawford continued his supplication.
(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)
For coming through the narrows, we had to lie very near the southern point, and there we saw all three of them kneeling together on a spit of sand, with their arms raised in supplication.
(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)
In the course of the tale I had mentioned Mr. Lloyd as having come to see me after the fit: for I never forgot the, to me, frightful episode of the red-room: in detailing which, my excitement was sure, in some degree, to break bounds; for nothing could soften in my recollection the spasm of agony which clutched my heart when Mrs. Reed spurned my wild supplication for pardon, and locked me a second time in the dark and haunted chamber.
(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)
The three others still continued together, walking in a most uncomfortable manner to poor Catherine; sometimes not a word was said, sometimes she was again attacked with supplications or reproaches, and her arm was still linked within Isabella's, though their hearts were at war.
(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)
Elinor, starting back with a look of horror at the sight of him, obeyed the first impulse of her heart in turning instantly to quit the room, and her hand was already on the lock, when its action was suspended by his hastily advancing, and saying, in a voice rather of command than supplication, Miss Dashwood, for half an hour—for ten minutes—I entreat you to stay.
(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)
She dropped her face on my old nurse's breast, and, ceasing this supplication, which in its agony and grief was half a woman's, half a child's, as all her manner was (being, in that, more natural, and better suited to her beauty, as I thought, than any other manner could have been), wept silently, while my old nurse hushed her like an infant.
(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)
No, indeed, you know your duty too well for me to—even supposing—She stopt, felt herself getting into a puzzle, and could not be prevailed on to add another word, not by dint of several minutes of supplication and waiting.
(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)
At last, after an agony of supplication and protestation, I got Dora to look at me, with a horrified expression of face, which I gradually soothed until it was only loving, and her soft, pretty cheek was lying against mine.
(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)
