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solicitation

[suh-lis-i-tey-shuh n]
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noun
  1. the act of soliciting.
  2. entreaty, urging, or importunity; a petition or request.
  3. enticement or allurement.
  4. Law.
    1. the crime of asking another to commit or to aid in a crime.
    2. the act of a prostitute soliciting in a public place.
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Origin of solicitation

1485–95; < Latin sollicitātiōn- (stem of sollicitātiō), equivalent to sollicitāt(us) (past participle of sollicitāre to solicit; see -ate1) + -iōn- -ion
Related formsnon·so·lic·i·ta·tion, nounpre·so·lic·i·ta·tion, nounre·so·lic·i·ta·tion, nounsu·per·so·lic·i·ta·tion, noun
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for solicitation

Contemporary Examples

Historical Examples

  • After the husband is deserted, the children are objects of her solicitation, and they are visited.

    Welsh Folk-Lore

    Elias Owen

  • For he would not have assumed the office but for her solicitation, she knew well.

    Trail's End

    George W. Ogden

  • On the way Winnifred, at the solicitation of the Marchioness, related her story.

  • At my solicitation he gave me a hearing—at his own home—treated me best in the world.

    Frenzied Finance

    Thomas W. Lawson

  • The dog will worry us by its fuss, its solicitation, its desire to be petted.

    The Complex Vision

    John Cowper Powys

Word Origin and History for solicitation

n.

late 15c., "management," from Middle French solicitation and directly from Latin solicitationem (nominative solicitatio) "vexation, disturbance, instigation," noun of action from past participle stem of solicitare (see solicit). Meaning "action of soliciting" is from 1520s. Specific sexual sense is from c.1600.

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper