petitioner

noun

pe·​ti·​tion·​er pə-ˈti-sh(ə-)nər 

plural petitioners

: one who makes, submits, or signs a petition

The lost children had not been found. Public prayers had been offered up for them, and many and many a private prayer that had the petitioner's whole heart in it; but still no good news came from the cave.

—Mark Twain

The high court held that when a petition charges an official with violating the law, the petitioners must at least have knowledge of facts which indicate an intent to commit an unlawful act.

—The National Law Journal

The petitioner contended that the taking of the blood sample and the admission of the test results violated his fifth amendment privilege against self-incrimination …

—Raymond P. Ward

… the draft of the proposed petition was read at length: and the petition said, as all petitions DO say, that the petitioners were very humble, and the petitioned very honourable, and the object very virtuous; therefore (said the petition) the bill ought to be passed into a law at once …

—Charles Dickens

Included in Wednesday's court filing was a petition signed by more than 500 area residents. The petitioners ask that Johnson "be shown mercy and not subjected to a jail term" because he has lost so much due to the conviction.

—Michael Smith

Synonyms

• pleader
• solicitor
• suitor
• suppliant
• supplicant

Examples of petitioner in a Sentence

the lottery winner was beset by a horde of petitioners, all of whom thought that they were most deserving of his charity

Recent Examples on the Web

Noteworthy is that all but two of Harvard’s Ivy League peers — Cornell University and Columbia University — were included in the group of petitioners. —Michael T. Nietzel, Forbes.com, 7 June 2025

Prosecutors argued that a petition for habeas corpus is an action on the authority that holds the petitioner in custody to free her, and not an action on the one in custody so the proper venue would be a district court in Louisiana. —Flint McColgan, Boston Herald, 4 Apr. 2025

The petitioners also argue the appeals court gave too much deference to the CPUC and the ruling did not go far enough to help disadvantaged communities. —Rob Nikolewski, San Diego Union-Tribune, 2 June 2025

But one student—Frederick, the petitioner—did not comply and was suspended for 10 days. —Nick Mordowanec, MSNBC Newsweek, 27 May 2025

Word History

First Known Use

15th century, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for petitioner

• commissioner
• conditioner
• parishioner
• positioner
• practitioner
• missioner