invitation

noun

in·​vi·​ta·​tion ˌin-və-ˈtā-shən 

1

a

: the act of inviting

b

: an often formal request to be present or participate

2

: incentive, inducement

Examples of invitation in a Sentence

We sent out more than 100 invitations for the party.

Recent Examples on the Web

Ticketed from $5,000 per couple for general admission to $250,000 per couple to be on the host-committee, the fundraiser is expected to raise at least $5 million, according to the event's invitation and the organizer. —Soo Rin Kim, ABC News, 20 Apr. 2024

The title comes with an invitation to deliver a 3-to-5-minute speech to an audience of about 65,000 at the campuswide commencement ceremony on May 10. —Caroline Petrow-Cohen, Los Angeles Times, 18 Apr. 2024

All of these Neo products also work on iPad for the first time, a clear invitation to an emerging line of creators that make TikTok and Instagram videos with just their phones or tablets. —Tom Warren, The Verge, 18 Apr. 2024

This is a place, after all, that still quaintly mails printed invitations to play the Masters. —Alan Blinder Doug Mills, New York Times, 13 Apr. 2024

While the series’ genre-bending narrative, infused with elements of science fiction, western, horror, and dark comedy, is something of a cautionary tale, the show itself is an invitation to peer through a bold new lens of video game adaptations. —Richard Newby, TIME, 12 Apr. 2024

Second, the blocks that lie on the ground outside the building, according to the accompanying signage, are invitations for people in the counties where lynchings happened to set up their own memorials. —The New Yorker, 8 Apr. 2024

Read More Conditional Support: Ukraine wants a formal invitation to join NATO, but the alliance has no appetite for taking on a new member that would draw it into the biggest land war in Europe since 1945. —Emile Ducke Thomas Gibbons-Neff, New York Times, 8 Apr. 2024

This is your celestial invitation to take the leap. —Debbie Frank, Peoplemag, 5 Apr. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

15th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

Phrases Containing invitation

• at the invitation of
• by invitation only
• standing/open invitation

Kids Definition

invitation

noun

in·​vi·​ta·​tion ˌin-və-ˈtā-shən 

1

: the act of inviting

2

: the written, printed, or spoken expression by which a person is invited

invitational

-shnəl

-shən-ᵊl

adjective