Petition
[pɪ'tɪʃ(ə)n] or [pə'tɪʃən]
Definition
(verb.) write a petition for something to somebody; request formally and in writing.
Edited by Albert--From WordNet
Definition
(n.) A prayer; a supplication; an imploration; an entreaty; especially, a request of a solemn or formal kind; a prayer to the Supreme Being, or to a person of superior power, rank, or authority; also, a single clause in such a prayer.
(n.) A formal written request addressed to an official person, or to an organized body, having power to grant it; specifically (Law), a supplication to government, in either of its branches, for the granting of a particular grace or right; -- in distinction from a memorial, which calls certain facts to mind; also, the written document.
(v. t.) To make a prayer or request to; to ask from; to solicit; to entreat; especially, to make a formal written supplication, or application to, as to any branch of the government; as, to petition the court; to petition the governor.
(v. i.) To make a petition or solicitation.
Edited by Flo
Synonyms and Synonymous
n. Request, prayer, supplication, entreaty, suit, solicitation, application, appeal, address.
v. a. Entreat, pray, supplicate, solicit, crave, ask, beg, apply to, make application to, prefer a request to.
Checker: Rowena
Synonyms and Antonyms
SYN:Supplication, entreaty, craving, application, appeal, salutation, prayer,request, instance
ANT:Deprecation, expostulation, protect, command, injunction, claim, demand,requirement, exaction, dictation
Edited by Ellis
Definition
n. a request generally from an inferior to a superior: a written request presented to a court of law or to a body of legislators: a prayer: a supplication.—v.t. to present a petition to: to ask as a favour: to supplicate.—adj. Petit′ionary offering or containing a petition: supplicatory.—ns. Petit′ioner one who offers a petition or prayer; Petit′ioning the act of presenting a petition: entreaty: solicitation; Petit′ionist.—adj. Pet′itory petitioning.—Petitio principii the fallacy of begging the question—a taking for granted in argument of that which has yet to be proved.
Typist: Xavier
Examples
- He told me he had promised the Bishop to sign some kind of a petition against divorce. Edith Wharton. The House of Mirth.
- Know that a petition was presented to the King and Queen. Charles Dickens. A Tale of Two Cities.
- Shortly after, the petition of the Massachusetts Assembly was taken up for examination before the privy council. Benjamin Franklin. Memoirs of Benjamin Franklin.
- Monseigneur, a petition. Charles Dickens. A Tale of Two Cities.
- It is Defarge whom you see here, who, at the hazard of his life, darted out before the horses, with the petition in his hand. Charles Dickens. A Tale of Two Cities.
- Finding that they would hearken to no terms of accommodation, he laid his petition before the council. Benjamin Franklin. Memoirs of Benjamin Franklin.
- I have one other petition. Charles Dickens. Bleak House.
- Always petitions! Charles Dickens. A Tale of Two Cities.
- There were juvenile letters and petitions from Rebecca, too, in the collection, imploring aid for her father or declaring her own gratitude. William Makepeace Thackeray. Vanity Fair.
- I don't suppose such vicarial piety will avail much, but the petitions come out of a sincere breast, from innocent lips. Charlotte Bronte. Shirley.
- He was alone, examining some petitions lately presented. Mary Shelley. The Last Man.
- Go patter thy petitions to heaven, said the fierce Norman, for we on earth have no time to listen to them. Walter Scott. Ivanhoe.
- Oh, I know,' said Sam; 'them as hangs up in the linen-drapers' shops, with beggars' petitions and all that 'ere upon 'em? Charles Dickens. The Pickwick Papers.
- I laid it in your desk with a prayer: I must indeed be a sinner: Heaven will not hear the petitions that come warmest from my heart. Charlotte Bronte. Villette.
- Mary petitioned for the use of the library at Netherfield; and Kitty begged very hard for a few balls there every winter. Jane Austen. Pride and Prejudice.
- They are generally obliged, therefore, to content themselves with petitioning for certain encouragements to exportation. Adam Smith. An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations.
- Now, too, she was not always petitioning to drink. Charlotte Bronte. Shirley.
- Mr. Hartright is petitioning for some more music, and he wants it, this time, of the lightest and liveliest kind. Wilkie Collins. The Woman in White.
Inputed by Kirsten