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advocate

/ˈæd.və.kət/noun, verb

advocate is spelled A-D-V-O-C-A-T-E: 8 letters and 3 syllables. It appears 16 times per million words in written English, the 5,025th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, advocate means “Someone whose job is to speak for someone's case in a court of law; a counsel” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of advocate is advocates.

How many letters and syllables are in advocate?

Letters8: A-D-V-O-C-A-T-E
Syllables3 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing16 times per million words; the 5,025th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search

Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How common is advocate?

Advocate appears 16 times per million words in written English, the 5,025th most frequent word form in the list.

Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How do you pronounce advocate?

  • /ˈæd.və.kət/

As a verb (“To plead in favour of; to defend by argument, before a…”): /ˈæd.və.keɪt/.

Advocate has 3 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-advocate-noun.ogg, LL-Q1860_(eng)-Back_ache-advocate.wav, En-us-advocate-verb.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Forms of advocate

  • advocates plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • advocating participle, present
  • advocated participle, past

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does advocate mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

noun

  1. 1

    Someone whose job is to speak for someone's case in a court of law; a counsel.

  2. 2

    Anyone who argues the case of another; an intercessor.

  3. 3

    A person who speaks in support of something, or someone; proponent

  4. 4

    A person who supports others to make their voices heard, or ideally for them to speak up for themselves.

    Since she started working with her advocate, she has become much more confident.

verb

  1. 1

    To plead in favour of; to defend by argument, before a tribunal or the public; to support, vindicate, or recommend publicly.

    7 March, 1624, Robert Sanderson, sermon at the Assizes, at Lincoln To advocate the cause of thy client.

  2. 2

    To encourage support for something.

    I like trees, but I do not advocate living in them.

  3. 3

    To engage in advocacy.

    We have been advocating for changes in immigration law.

  4. 4

    To appeal from an inferior court to the Court of Session.

  5. 5

    To call a case before itself for decision.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Advocate in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
GermanAdvokat, Advokatin (someone whose job is to speak for someone's…), Rechtsanwalt, Rechtsanwältin, Verteidiger (person who argues the case of another), Fürsprecher (person who speaks in support of something)
Spanishabogado (someone whose job is to speak for someone's…), abogada (person who argues the case of another), portavoz, vocero, advocante (person who speaks in support of something), abogar/advocar/avocar por (argue for)
Frenchavocat, avocate (person who argues the case of another), porte-parole (person who speaks in support of something), plaider (argue for), préconiser (encourage support for)
Portugueseadvogado, advogada (person who argues the case of another), representante, defensor (person who speaks in support of something), defender, advogar (argue for)

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.

Where does advocate come from?

From Middle English advocat, advoket, from Old French advocat, from Latin advocātus (“an advocate”), from the substantivization of the perfect passive participle of advocāre (“to call for”) (see -ate (noun-forming suffix)), from a calque of Ancient Greek παράκλητος (paráklētos) (whence English paraclete). Doublet of advoke, avocat, avouch, and avow. The verb derives from the noun on the basis of -ate (verb-forming suffix).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What to look up after advocate