PLEA BARGAIN

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does plea bargain mean? 

• PLEA BARGAIN (noun)
  The noun PLEA BARGAIN has 1 sense:

1. (criminal law) a negotiation in which the defendant agrees to enter a plea of guilty to a lesser charge and the prosecutor agrees to drop a more serious charge

  Familiarity information: PLEA BARGAIN used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• PLEA BARGAIN (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

(criminal law) a negotiation in which the defendant agrees to enter a plea of guilty to a lesser charge and the prosecutor agrees to drop a more serious charge

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Synonyms:

plea bargain; plea bargaining

Context example:

plea bargaining helps to stop the courts becoming congested

Hypernyms ("plea bargain" is a kind of...):

bargaining (the negotiation of the terms of a transaction or agreement)

Domain category:

criminal law (the body of law dealing with crimes and their punishment)

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

Derivation:

plea-bargain (agree to plead guilty in return for a lesser charge)