Advocate

How to spell advocate

8 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce advocate

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does advocate mean?

1. verbTo publicly recommend or support a cause, policy, or course of action.
2. nounA person who publicly supports a cause, or who pleads on behalf of another, including in law.

Advocate in a sentence

• verb

  The report will advocate stronger safety rules in the workplace.

• noun

  She became a tireless advocate for affordable housing in the city.

• verb

  Many doctors advocate regular exercise as a way to lower blood pressure.

• noun

  The charity appointed an advocate to represent families in court.

Where does advocate come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word traces back to the Latin verb advocare, which literally meant 'to call to one's aid', formed from ad- meaning 'to' and vocare meaning 'to call'. In Roman courts an advocatus was a person called to stand beside someone and speak on their behalf, so the noun already carried the legal flavour of pleading another's case. The word travelled into English through Old French (advocat) in the 1300s, first naming a legal pleader and later broadening to anyone who publicly supports a cause. The same vocare root, meaning 'to call', also gives us 'vocal', 'vocation', and 'voice', which is a handy reminder that the spelling keeps the voc before the -ate. The verb sense, 'to speak in favour of', grew up alongside the noun and is now the more common everyday use.

How the word is built

• ad- (to)
• voc (call, from vocare: to call)
• -ate (verb/noun suffix)