invitation
Americannoun
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the act of inviting, such as an offer of entertainment or hospitality
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( as modifier )
an invitation dance
an invitation race
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the act of enticing or attracting; allurement
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of invitation
1590–1600; < Latin invītātiōn- (stem of invītātiō ), equivalent to invītāt ( us ) (past participle of invītāre to invite ) + -iōn- -ion
Explanation
An invitation is a request, a solicitation, or an attempt to get another person to join you at a specific event. You need an invitation to go to the Academy Awards, even if you're George Clooney. When you ask people to attend a party, visit your beach house, or witness your marriage, you invite them — using the verb — and you've given them an invitation. An invitation can be delivered as a verbal request, a beautifully engraved card, or even puffs of smoke behind an airplane. If you give invitations to two hundred of your closest friends to attend your Mardi Gras party, you’d better make a lot of jambalaya.
Vocabulary lists containing invitation
Talk Like Shakespeare Day, List 7
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"Roberto Clemente: Pride of the Pittsburgh Pirates"
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"Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" by Lewis Carroll, Chapters 4–6
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Buying a Roadster that can actually hover in the air requires an invitation from Tesla, according to its website.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 16, 2026
Not everyone will accept “Fjord’s” invitation to reconsider their worldview.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 7, 2026
Within minutes, Fury was offering to go for a pint with the Matchroom boss - and extended the invitation to Joshua.
From BBC ● Sep. 30, 2026
The invitation is an insult to the civilized world.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 29, 2026
To his credit, Jefferson’s first instinct was to accept the invitation.
From "Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation" by Joseph J. Ellis
Rather than declining invitations that you can’t afford, proffer your own invites for dinner or to a barbecue or the county fair.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 23, 2026
After the hounding of Diana by the paparazzi, he says he personally rang tabloid newspaper editors to disinvite them from the Abbey funeral, after their invitations had already been sent out.
From BBC ● Sep. 21, 2026
Looking like a junior professor in his crisp jeans, vest and nerdy-trendy red-framed eyeglasses, Mr. Guimarães has an easygoing amiability that makes his invitations to participate in the show feel like casual outreaches to friends.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 18, 2026
They fit, they’re great and I reject all invitations to get rid of them.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 16, 2026
In the districts they’re important enough to attend, whereas back in the Capitol they almost never score invitations to prestigious parties.
From "Catching Fire" by Suzanne Collins
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Get a wordDefinitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
