Solicitation

How to spell solicitation

12 letters · 5 syllables

How to pronounce solicitation

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does solicitation mean?

1. nounThe act of earnestly asking for, requesting, or appealing for something such as money, business, or support.
2. nounThe criminal offence of urging, requesting, or attempting to incite another person to commit an unlawful act.

Solicitation in a sentence

• The charity sent a solicitation for donations to every household on the street.

• The prosecutor charged him with solicitation to commit fraud.

• The company banned door-to-door solicitation on its commercial premises.

• The defendant faced a separate count of solicitation in addition to the main charge.

Where does solicitation come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word traces back to the Latin verb sollicitare, which literally meant 'to stir up' or 'to disturb thoroughly', built from sollus 'whole, entire' and citare 'to set in motion, rouse'. The underlying image is of agitating something completely, so early uses carried the sense of troubling, worrying, or persistently urging a person. The related noun sollicitatio passed into Old French as solicitation and then into English in the late 1400s, where it settled into the meaning of earnestly asking, petitioning, or pressing someone for something. The same root gives us 'solicit', 'solicitous' (anxiously caring), and the British job title 'solicitor', all sharing that core notion of busily pressing or attending to a matter. The double l in the Latin sollus has long since been simplified in English, which is part of why the spelling can trip writers who expect the spelling to mirror the pronunciation.

How the word is built

• sollicit- (from Latin sollicitare: to disturb, stir up, urge)
• -ation (noun of action)