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:
“Evan Spiegel invites you to the launch of Specs,” the nontransferable invitation reads.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 2, 2026
That invitation to suspicion does not disappear when the government itself leaves something unexplained.
From Salon ● Aug. 27, 2026
Frank-N-Furter was a vivid invitation to fans to let their own freak flag fly.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 26, 2026
The first minister will spend much of the day touring Inverclyde at the invitation of the local authority to see for himself the special challenges facing the region.
From BBC ● Aug. 24, 2026
General Grant and his wife had declined Lincoln’s invitation and boarded a train headed home instead.
From "Chasing Lincoln's Killer" by James L. Swanson
Will there be invitations extended to the Sussex family?
From BBC ● Aug. 24, 2026
We’re all sitting at home sipping adaptogenic mushroom tonics, journaling our feelings and politely declining invitations to any event after 7 p.m. because we’d rather optimize our sleep scores than take a tequila shot.
From Salon ● Aug. 15, 2026
Don’t miss: I got two email invitations from friends.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 13, 2026
In a video shared by his campaign Friday, Hilton listed six debate invitations he has received from cable broadcaster CNN and television news stations around the state, beginning in late September.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 31, 2026
Stung by the criticism from her father and husband, Elizabeth Cady Stanton stopped accepting invitations to public events and once again focused her attention on her family.
From "Votes for Women!" by Winifred Conkling
Definitions 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.
