solicitation

American  

[suh-lis-i-tey-shuhn] / səˌlɪs ɪˈteɪ ʃən /

noun

• solicitations
  plural

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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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• nonsolicitation
  noun
• presolicitation
  noun
• resolicitation
  noun
• supersolicitation
  noun

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• solicitations
  plural

Etymology

Origin of solicitation

First recorded in 1485–95; from Latin sollicitātiōn-, stem of sollicitātiō, from sollicitāt(us) “agitated, worried” (past participle of sollicitāre “to excite, agitate, worry”; see solicit) + -iō -ion

Explanation

Solicitation is a request for something, usually money. If you buy a fancy new house, expect a phone call from the local charity with a solicitation for a donation. Solicitation comes from solicit, which means "to request," or "to entreat." So solicitation is the act of requesting. There are three kinds of solicitation. One is asking for money, like when someone goes door-to-door trying to collect money for a cause. In law, solicitation means encouraging someone to commit a crime. Solicitation can also mean making a plea to someone with power to grant a request or favor, like your solicitation to the traffic judge to dismiss your ticket.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

solicitation solicitations

The agency will also issue an open solicitation for Moon Base technology demonstrations and begin pursuing a lunar communication and navigation relay constellation to improve communications between infrastructure on the Moon and Earth.

From Science Daily ● Jul. 14, 2026

Henderson said he only realized the solicitation he’d been asked to do might be frowned upon after Orchid told him as much at their meal.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 12, 2026

Burach says she was outraged and, as such, wrote to departmental leadership to share her patient’s feedback about how targeted solicitation felt “creepy.”

From MarketWatch ● Jun. 24, 2026

That action was in response to news that an internal investigation at Prudential had found “multiple inappropriate cases involving improper investment solicitation and the like by current and former employees” within its Japan operations.

From Barron's ● May 4, 2026

They played a duet from “Zampa,” and at the earnest solicitation of every one present followed it with the overture to “The Poet and the Peasant.”

From "The Awakening" by Kate Chopin

"It cannot be stressed enough that peace and quiet is a right, and it is time to stop exposing consumers to unwanted solicitations," consumer advocacy group Que Choisir Ensemble, said in a statement.

From BBC ● Aug. 11, 2026

Posillico alleges in the lawsuit that it incurred “substantial bid preparation and proposal costs” drawing up plans for federal solicitations that were “not genuine competitive opportunities.”

From Salon ● May 25, 2026

After the August posting of the search, the museum reportedly received about 17 resumes, “mostly unqualified,” the letter said, before direct solicitations to professional associates in the field eventually surfaced two potential names.

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 10, 2025

The Supreme Court has defined commercial speech as communication of the “terms of an actual or potential transaction” that has an “economic motivation”—for example, credit-card solicitations.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 12, 2025

Thus our earnest solicitations and fervent desire to continue on terms of amity—our readiness to yield for the sake of peace what now of itself would provoke a war, were met by deception and insult.

From The Second War with England, Vol. 1 of 2 by Joel Tyler Headley

Related Words

• application
• bid
• call
• claim
• demand
• overture
• petition
• plea
• proposal
• question
• suit