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:
Snail mail is particularly charming, but absolutely nobody needs to design an engraved invitation to eat chili in somebody’s living room.
From Salon ● Oct. 20, 2026
I always sent Jackie an invitation to an art show by a Radziwill cousin, the family her sister Lee married into.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 18, 2026
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
It was a wonderful invitation, but then I thought how awful it would be to have to crawl back into my half-frozen clothes.
From "Black Star, Bright Dawn" by Scott O'Dell
Talarico has accepted four debate invitations from different news networks.
From BBC ● Oct. 16, 2026
Those without invitations from race partners have had to spend several hundred, and in some cases several thousand, euros to attend the three-day event, covering practice, qualifying and the Grand Prix.
From Barron's ● Sep. 12, 2026
How should I handle invitations from this person in the future?
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 11, 2026
Scams in which criminals send fake electronic invitations to steal email credentials are a growing problem.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 5, 2026
I keep thinking of other pairs completing their treasure hunts and getting their invitations to the finale while we bake in this hot room.
From "Amari and the Night Brothers" by B.B. Alston
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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.
