PETITIONS Synonyms: 65 Similar and Opposite Words

petitions 1 of 2

noun

plural of petition

as in appeals

an earnest request a flurry of petitions from eating and drinking establishments to be exempt from the new antismoking regulations

Synonyms & Similar Words

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petitions

2 of 2

verb

present tense third-person singular of petition

as in begs

to make a request to (someone) in an earnest or urgent manner petitioned the judge to be excused from jury duty for financial hardship

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Recent Examples of petitions

Noun

And residents have banded together with the power of clipboard petitions, homemade T-shirts and Facebook groups. — Emily L. Mahoney, Miami Herald, 4 Sep. 2026 Over 2,600 petitions have been filed in Louisiana, which has many ICE detention centers. — Carla Astudillo, ProPublica, 3 Sep. 2026 More than 1,200 district residents signed petitions throughout the spring and summer as part of the city’s referendum process, which allowed residents to initiate a vote calling for Perkins’ removal. — Ilana Arougheti, Kansas City Star, 2 Sep. 2026 Beyond fewer approvals, processing times for green card petitions for immediate relatives, like spouses, have slowed down. — Ignacio Calderon, USA Today, 1 Sep. 2026 More than a thousand habeas petitions were filed in Minnesota courts between December and February (compared with only seventy-three habeas petitions during the previous year). — Emily Witt, New Yorker, 31 Aug. 2026 In the petition, the group argues that the decision by the board was arbitrary and effectively disenfranchises the will of hundreds of thousands of Michiganders who signed the petitions. — Todd Spangler, Freep.com, 31 Aug. 2026 But Timeless is the first release of unheard recordings since 2023, and fans grew restless in the interim, circulating petitions and open letters asking for more from Prince’s storied vaults. — Brian Hiatt, Rolling Stone, 28 Aug. 2026 Several prior petitions for post-conviction relief had been denied over the years. — Michael Ruiz, FOXNews.com, 28 Aug. 2026

Verb

However, if someone petitions the court, a judge could order the HOA into a receivership. — Kelly G. Richardson, San Diego Union-Tribune, 21 July 2026 The film hands off its plot like a baton, passing from this dissatisfied shopper to a factory owner to her dead daughter-in-law (another ghost) who petitions the government for her civil rights despite being in the body of an appliance. — Amy Nicholson, Los Angeles Times, 10 Mar. 2026

Recent Examples of Synonyms for petitions

Noun

Tarkowski slid in from behind to stop a certain goal, with United’s penalty appeals waved away.

— Laurie Whitwell, New York Times, 9 Sep. 2026
Once the appeals process is exhausted, the court's certification is sent to the State Department, along with court records.

— Bill Chappell, NPR, 9 Sep. 2026

Definition of appeals

Verb

His father begs him to stop work, wondering why filming a story about the closure of bakeries in Jabalia for consumption by outlets like the UK’s Channel 4 is worth risking losing his only son.

— Ritesh Mehta, IndieWire, 5 Sep. 2026
But this begs the parallel question of what the current museum architecture arises from and reflects, and why the oceanic and the oligarchic logics of the museum’s reformation now travel together here.

— George Baker, Artforum, 1 Sep. 2026

Definition of begs

Noun

Clancy was tried in a Massachusetts court of law, one of the few venues where defendants such as Clancy enjoy the presumption of proof for pleas of insanity, once they are allowed to make such a plea.

— Richard E. Vatz, Baltimore Sun, 6 Sep. 2026
Hayes entered Alford pleas and received a deferred disposition with two years of supervised probation.

— Matt Lavietes, NBC news, 3 Sep. 2026

Definition of pleas

Noun

Her fans, dressed in T-shirts that showed her in a shimmering blue dress and flower crown, began making pilgrimages to the crash site every year, sharing stories of Gilda appearing in their dreams and answering their prayers.

— ABC News, ABC News, 8 Sep. 2026
Such prayers have a healing effect, not just on our own lives but in the world as well.

— The Christian Science Monitor, Christian Science Monitor, 8 Sep. 2026