petition

English Online Dictionary. What means petition‎? What does petition mean?

English

Etymology

From Middle English, borrowed from Old French peticiun, from stem of Latin petitio, petitionem (“a request, solicitation”), from petere (“to require, seek, go forward”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pəˈtɪʃ.ən/

Noun

petition (plural petitions)

1. A formal written request made by an individual or a group of people to a sovereign or political authority, often containing many signatures, soliciting some grace, right, mercy, or the redress of some wrong or grievance. [from early 15th c.]

2. (law, by extension) A formal written application made to a magistrate or court for an order or a suit for divorce. [from 1730s]
3. A prayer or supplication, especially of which is formal or humble and made to a deity, a sovereign, or an authority. [from c. 1330]

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

petition (third-person singular simple present petitions, present participle petitioning, simple past and past participle petitioned)

1. (transitive) To make a petition to (a sovereign or political authority).

Translations

References

• “petition, n.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, launched 2000.
• Douglas Harper (2001–2025) “petition”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.

Further reading

• “petition”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.