Meanings
nounpetition (plural petitions)
plural petitions
- 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.First known use early 15th c.
We're looking to get 10,000 people to sign the petition to have the bird colony given legal protection.
Synonyms: suit
- A prayer or supplication, especially of which is formal or humble and made to a deity, a sovereign, or an authority.First known use c. 1330
a petition to aid
2 more examples
a petition to God for courage and strength
A house of prayer and petition for thy people.
1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, 1 Maccabees 7:37
verbpetition (third-person singular simple present petitions, present participle petitioning, simple past and past participle petitioned)
present singular third person petitions · participle present petitioning · participle past petitioned · past petitioned
- transitiveTo make a petition to (a sovereign or political authority).
The villagers petitioned the council to demolish the dangerous building.
1 more example
The company, appreciating the crippling affect ^([sic]) that this scheme will have on its activities unless the railway is diverted, has petitioned against the North Wales Hydro-Electric Power Bill at present before the House of Lords.
1955 April, “Notes and News: Restoring the Festiniog Railway”, in Railway Magazine, page 288
Synonyms & antonyms
nounA 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.
Similar
More synonyms by meaning
nouna formal message requesting something that is submitted to an authority
Similar
Broader
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Latinpetitio, petitionem“a request, solicitation”
- Old Frenchpeticiun
- Englishpetition
From Middle English, borrowed from Old French peticiun, from stem of Latin petitio, petitionem (“a request, solicitation”), from petere (“to require, seek, go forward”).
More words from Old French, Latin
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Ancient Greek αἴτημα, δέησις
- αἴτημα (aítēma)formal, written request made to an official person
- δέησις (déēsis)formal, written request made to an official person
Arabic عَرِيضَة, طَلَب
- عَرِيضَة (ʕarīḍa)formal, written request made to an official person
- طَلَب (ṭalab)formal, written request made to an official person
- عَرِيضَة (ʕarīḍa)compilation of signatures
Bulgarian молба́, заявле́ние
- молба́ (molbá)formal, written request made to an official person
- заявле́ние (zajavlénie)formal, written request made to an official person
- пети́ция (petícija)compilation of signatures
- жа́лба (žálba)legal: formal request for judicial action
- подавам молба (podavam molba)to make a request
Catalan petició
- peticióformal, written request made to an official person
Chinese Mandarin 請願 /请愿, 請願 /请愿
- 請願 /请愿 (qǐngyuàn)formal, written request made to an official person
- 請願 /请愿 (qǐngyuàn)compilation of signatures
Czech žádost, suplika
- žádostformal, written request made to an official person
- suplikaformal, written request made to an official person
- peticecompilation of signatures
- návrhlegal: formal request for judicial action
Danish andragende, petition
- andragendeformal, written request made to an official person
- petitionformal, written request made to an official person
- bønskriftformal, written request made to an official person
- petitioncompilation of signatures
- andrageto make a request
Dutch verzoekschrift, petitie
- verzoekschriftformal, written request made to an official person
- petitieformal, written request made to an official person
- smeekschriftformal, written request made to an official person
- petitiecompilation of signatures
Esperanto peticio, petskribo
- peticioformal, written request made to an official person
- petskriboformal, written request made to an official person
Estonian petitsioon
- petitsiooncompilation of signatures
Finnish vetoomus, adressi
- vetoomusformal, written request made to an official person
- adressiformal, written request made to an official person
- adressicompilation of signatures
- vetoomuscompilation of signatures
- hakemuslegal: formal request for judicial action
- anomuslegal: formal request for judicial action
- rukousprayer; supplication; entreaty
- anoato make a request
- pyytääto make a request
- hakeato make a request
French pétition, pétition
- pétitionformal, written request made to an official person
- pétitioncompilation of signatures
- pétitionnerto make a request
German Petition, Eingabe
- Petitionformal, written request made to an official person
- Eingabeformal, written request made to an official person
- Petitioncompilation of signatures
- Petitionlegal: formal request for judicial action
Greek αίτηση, αναφορά
- αίτηση (aítisi)formal, written request made to an official person
- αναφορά (anaforá)formal, written request made to an official person
- αίτηση (aítisi)compilation of signatures
- αίτηση (aítisi)legal: formal request for judicial action
- αιτούμαι (aitoúmai)to make a request
Hindi याचिका, ज्ञापन
- याचिका (yācikā)formal, written request made to an official person
- ज्ञापन (jñāpan)formal, written request made to an official person
- याचिका (yācikā)compilation of signatures
- ज्ञापन (jñāpan)compilation of signatures
- याचिका (yācikā)legal: formal request for judicial action
- याचना (yācnā)to make a request
Hungarian kérvény, petíció
- kérvényformal, written request made to an official person
- petíciócompilation of signatures
- kérvényezto make a request
Indonesian petisi, petisi
- petisiformal, written request made to an official person
- petisicompilation of signatures
- petisilegal: formal request for judicial action
Irish achainí, achainí
- achainíformal, written request made to an official person
- achainícompilation of signatures
- achainílegal: formal request for judicial action
- impighto make a request
- achainighto make a request
Italian petizione
- petizioneformal, written request made to an official person
Japanese 請願, 請願
- 請願 (seigan)formal, written request made to an official person
- 請願 (seigan)compilation of signatures
Korean 청원, 청원
- 청원 (cheong'won)formal, written request made to an official person
- 청원 (cheong'won)compilation of signatures
Latin libellus, petitio
- libellusformal, written request made to an official person
- petitioformal, written request made to an official person
Malay petisyen, rayuan
- petisyenformal, written request made to an official person
- rayuanlegal: formal request for judicial action
Māori petihana, petihana
- petihanaformal, written request made to an official person
- petihanato make a request
Norwegian Bokmål petisjon
- petisjoncompilation of signatures
Polish petycja, petycja
- petycjaformal, written request made to an official person
- petycjacompilation of signatures
Portuguese petição, abaixo-assinado
- petiçãoformal, written request made to an official person
- abaixo-assinadocompilation of signatures
Romanian petiție, petiție
- petițieformal, written request made to an official person
- petițiecompilation of signatures
Russian пети́ция, хода́тайство
- пети́ция (petícija)formal, written request made to an official person
- хода́тайство (xodátajstvo)formal, written request made to an official person
- проше́ние (prošénije)formal, written request made to an official person
- заявле́ние (zajavlénije)formal, written request made to an official person
- пети́ция (petícija)compilation of signatures
- заявле́ние (zajavlénije)legal: formal request for judicial action
- хода́тайство (xodátajstvo)legal: formal request for judicial action
- жа́лоба (žáloba)legal: formal request for judicial action
- пети́ция (petícija)legal: formal request for judicial action
- хода́тайствовать (xodátajstvovatʹ)to make a request
- подава́ть (podavátʹ)to make a request
- пода́ть (podátʹ)to make a request
Scottish Gaelic athchuinge, athchuinge
- athchuingeformal, written request made to an official person
- athchuingecompilation of signatures
- tagairtlegal: formal request for judicial action
- athchuingelegal: formal request for judicial action
- tagairto make a request
Slovak žiadosť, petícia
- žiadosťformal, written request made to an official person
- petíciacompilation of signatures
Spanish petición, instancia
- peticiónformal, written request made to an official person
- instanciaformal, written request made to an official person
- peroraciónformal, written request made to an official person
- peticióncompilation of signatures
- peticiónlegal: formal request for judicial action
- peticionarto make a request
- perorarto make a request
- instarto make a request
Swedish petition, framställan
- petitionformal, written request made to an official person
- framställanformal, written request made to an official person
- namninsamlingcompilation of signatures
- petitioncompilation of signatures
- framställanlegal: formal request for judicial action
Tamil மனு
- மனு (maṉu)formal, written request made to an official person
Thai คำร้อง
- คำร้อง (kam-rɔ́ɔng)legal: formal request for judicial action
Turkish dilekçe, dilekçe
- dilekçeformal, written request made to an official person
- dilekçecompilation of signatures
Ukrainian пети́ція, проха́ння
- пети́ція (petýcija)formal, written request made to an official person
- проха́ння (proxánnja)formal, written request made to an official person
- пети́ція (petýcija)compilation of signatures
Urdu دَرْخْوَاسْت, عَرِیضَہ
- دَرْخْوَاسْت (darxvāst)compilation of signatures
- عَرِیضَہ ('arīza)compilation of signatures
Vietnamese sự cầu xin
- sự cầu xinformal, written request made to an official person
Welsh deiseb
- deisebformal, written request made to an official person
Cite this entry
APA
petition. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/petition
MLA
“petition.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/petition. Accessed November 3, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “petition,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/petition.
Source: petition on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.