solicit
Americanverb (used with object)
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solicits,
present (3rd person singular)
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solicited,
past participle, past
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soliciting
present participle
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to seek for (something) by entreaty, earnest or respectful request, formal application, etc..
He solicited aid from the minister.
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to entreat or petition (someone or some agency).
to solicit the committee for funds.
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to seek to influence or incite to action, especially unlawful or wrong action.
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to offer to have sex with in exchange for money.
verb (used without object)
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solicits,
present (3rd person singular)
-
solicited,
past participle, past
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soliciting
present participle
-
to make a petition or request, as for something desired.
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to solicit orders or trade, as for a business.
No soliciting allowed in this building.
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to offer to have sex with someone in exchange for money.
verb
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to make a request, application, or entreaty to (a person for business, support, etc)
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to accost (a person) with an offer of sexual relations in return for money
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to provoke or incite (a person) to do something wrong or illegal
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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solicitsimple
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solicitssimple
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have solicitedperfect
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has solicitedperfect
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am solicitingprogressive
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are solicitingprogressive
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is solicitingprogressive
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have been solicitingperfect progressive
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has been solicitingperfect progressive
Past
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solicitedsimple
-
had solicitedperfect
-
was solicitingprogressive
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were solicitingprogressive
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had been solicitingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of solicit
First recorded in 1400–50; late Middle English soliciten, from Middle French solliciter, from Latin sollicitāre “to excite, agitate,” derivative of sollicitus “troubled” ( soll(us) “whole” + -i- -i- + citus, past participle of ciēre “to arouse”)
Explanation
Solicit means to ask for. It is what those people on the street are doing, when they ask, "Do you have a moment to talk about the destruction of the planet?" They are soliciting donations for their cause. Solicit has an official sounding impressiveness to it––doesn't soliciting donations sound better than begging for money? It can also have a more sinister cast. "When the teacher left the room, two girls solicited their friends to throw all the textbooks out the windows, injuring members of the cheer squad below — where they were soliciting signatures for a petition banning smoking in the football locker rooms."
Vocabulary lists containing solicit
Instead of "Said": Words for Asking and Offering
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The Tragedy of Macbeth
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Monster
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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:
Chandrasekaran said he doesn’t solicit donations for Raman, and has no official role on her campaign.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 23, 2026
AFP does not solicit testimonies from unaccompanied minors nor identify them, under its ethical code.
From Barron's ● Aug. 1, 2026
But it's rarer for police department-produced podcasts to focus on cold cases and solicit tips, as the California, Colorado and Illinois departments have done.
From BBC ● Jul. 31, 2026
Caesars had a “go-shop” period through July 11 to solicit and consider alternative deals.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 28, 2026
They tried the sentence again, reading together out loud: “‘For the most wild yet most homely narrative which I am about to pen, I neither expect nor solicit belief.’”
From "Book Scavenger" by Jennifer Chambliss Bertman
The president directed his Truth Social followers to a website for the library that solicits donations.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 31, 2026
Signage in Fabulosa talks up the program and solicits donations from customers, many of whom are transplants from more conservative parts of the country or visitors from such places.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 19, 2024
To pay for it all — including medical care and professional training for the dogs — Favor constantly solicits donations on GoFundMe and Instagram, where he has built up more than 180,000 followers.
From Seattle Times ● Feb. 24, 2024
The board solicits checks online, but it’s not clear whether donors are vetted.
From Salon ● Jan. 31, 2024
“She subsists on the chance contributions of the charitable; but she solicits nothing,—and, indeed, is seldom seen.”
From Guy Fawkes or The Gunpowder Treason by William Harrison Ainsworth
From February 2022 until they were arrested on Monday, Love and Chan solicited money from women in California, Oregon, Washington and Idaho through lies and misrepresentations, according to the United States Attorney’s Office in Portland.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 27, 2026
Alison Green solicited reader anecdotes about how their dogs-at-work policies have played out and considers the issue from all angles.
From Slate ● Aug. 25, 2026
Egan-Jones said it uses the same methodology whether ratings are private or public, solicited or unsolicited.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 7, 2026
A few months later, records show, Socolow solicited feedback from another member of BP’s management.
From Salon ● Jun. 26, 2026
Among those asking about it were people Burry had solicited for Milton’s Opus—people who had initially expressed great interest.
From "The Big Short" by Michael Lewis
"The sale of stolen goods, or soliciting them, is strictly prohibited on Vinted, and we have zero tolerance for it," a spokesperson for the company said.
From BBC ● Oct. 19, 2026
All the while, De Anda was soliciting donations from the public to run her rescue and continued to take in animals that she could not care for, he said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 18, 2026
On July 14, the Department of Health and Human Services began soliciting ideas for reforming Medicare’s physician payment system.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 26, 2026
California bans non-attorneys from directly soliciting or procuring clients to sign up for lawsuits.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 12, 2026
During Adams’s second year in nursing school in New York, a recruiter from the army came around, soliciting student nurses to join.
From "Boots on the Ground: America's War in Vietnam" by Elizabeth Partridge
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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.
