petition

/pəˈtɪʃən/

/pɪˈtɪʃən/

Other forms: petitions; petitioned; petitioning

If you're angry about the new rule that you have to wear bright pink shoes to work every day, why not write up a petition, get all your co-workers to sign it, and submit it to your boss?

Petition comes from the Anglo-Norman word peticiun, meaning "demand, request," and when you petition someone, you ask them to consider your request. If you write up a statement against the town's approval of a new carnival district and collect signatures from 100 neighbors to turn in to the city government, that's a petition. If you pray to the carnival gods to rain down ruin on the carnival, that's also a petition — and no signatures needed.

Definitions of petition

1. noun

   a formal message requesting something that is submitted to an authority
   synonyms: postulation, request

   types:

   application

   a verbal or written request for assistance or employment or admission to a school

   appeal, collection, ingathering, solicitation

   request for a sum of money

   demand

   an urgent or peremptory request

   motion

   a request to a court for a ruling or order

   job application

   an application for a job

   credit application

   an application for a line of credit

   loan application

   an application to borrow money

   patent application

   an application for sole rights to an invention

   whip-round

   (British) solicitation of money usually for a benevolent purpose

   challenge

   a demand by a sentry for a password or identification

   ultimatum

   a final peremptory demand

   insistence, insisting

   continual and persistent demands

   call, claim

   a demand especially in the phrase "the call of duty"

   requisition

   the act of requiring; an authoritative request or demand, especially by a military or public authority that takes something over (usually temporarily) for military or public use

   call

   a demand for a show of hands in a card game

   call, margin call

   a demand by a broker that a customer deposit enough to bring his margin up to the minimum requirement

   pay claim, wage claim

   the wage demanded from management for workers by their union representatives

   type of:

   content, message, subject matter, substance

   what a communication that is about something is about
2. noun

   reverent petition to a deity
   synonyms: orison, prayer

   types:

   prayer wheel

   a cylinder with prayers written on it; each revolution counts as uttering the prayers; used especially by Buddhists in Tibet

   benediction, blessing

   a ceremonial prayer invoking divine protection

   collect

   a short prayer generally preceding the lesson in the Church of Rome or the Church of England

   commination

   prayers proclaiming God's anger against sinners; read in the Church of England on Ash Wednesday

   deprecation

   a prayer to avert or remove some evil or disaster

   blessing, grace, thanksgiving

   a short prayer of thanks before a meal

   intercession

   a prayer to God on behalf of another person

   invocation, supplication

   a prayer asking God's help as part of a religious service

   requiescat

   a prayer for the repose of the soul of a dead person

   rosary

   a series of devotional prayers recited by Roman Catholics and often counted using a string of beads

   benison

   a spoken blessing

   rogation

   a solemn supplication ceremony prescribed by the church

   type of:

   asking, request

   the verbal act of requesting
3. verb

   write a petition for something to somebody; request formally and in writing
   types:

   supplicate

   make a humble, earnest petition

   type of:

   bespeak, call for, quest, request

   express the need or desire for; ask for