I. ˌinvəˈtāshən noun
( -s )
Etymology: Middle French or Latin; Middle French, from Latin invitation-, invitatio, from invitatus (past participle of invitare to invite) + -ion-, -io -ion
1.
a. : the act of inviting : the requesting of a person's company or participation
I took the invitation to dinner as a dismissal from tea — O.S.J.Gogarty
joined the expedition at the invitation of the government
b.
(1) : a written or verbal request to be present or participate
address wedding invitations
accept an invitation to membership
(2) : a written or verbal request to do or undertake
an invitation to sing at a benefit concert
an invitation to assume leadership of a project
(3) often capitalized : a brief exhortation immediately preceding the confession in the communion service of the Anglican and other Protestant churches
c. : suggestion , proposal
the invitations of a master are scarcely to be distinguished from commands — Edward Gibbon
he refused my invitation to consider the history of Christian intolerance — H.J.Laski
2.
a. : attraction , stimulus , lure , incentive
they were forced to move, even though the Sahara desert was no invitation — Emil Lengyel
good scholarship … presents us with evidence which is an invitation to the critical faculty of the reader — T.S.Eliot
b. : a precipitating factor : inducement , challenge , provocation
a hatchet painted red was thrown down in a friendly village as an invitation to join in a war — Clark Wissler
the laws … were an invitation to smuggling — Roger Burlingame
her sultry look was clearly an invitation
II. | ̷ ̷ ̷ ̷| ̷ ̷ ̷ ̷ adjective
also in·vi·ta·tion·al | ̷ ̷ ̷ ̷|tāshən ə l, -shnəl
: prepared or entered in response to a request or challenge
invitation article
invitation exhibit
specifically : limited to invited participants
invitation tournament