invitation
Pluralinvitations
- 1A written or spoken message that conveys a request for someone to attend or take part in something.
The invitation arrived by mail, embossed with gold lettering.
He read the invitation aloud before passing it around the table.
Similarcard
- 2The act of asking someone to come to an event or to join in, or of requesting a person's company.
His invitation to join the committee was a gesture of goodwill.
The open invitation to all residents drew a large crowd to the hall.
Note
The core sense, and the word that pushed aside an older English one. Middle English invitacioun came from Latin invītātio, reinforced by French, and displaced native lathinge, from Old English laþung, which lingers as dialectal lathing. A common construction is at someone's invitation, meaning because they asked, as in Robert W. Chambers's "At her invitation he outlined…". Otherwise it usually takes to: an invitation to dinner, to visit a friend.
- 3An attraction or enticement that draws one toward a particular action.
The empty, open road was an invitation to drive too fast.
His long silence seemed like an invitation for others to speak their minds.
Similartemptation, enticement, inducement, encouragement, lure
Oppositedeterrent, discouragement, disincentive
- 4In fencing and similar combat, a line deliberately left open to encourage the opponent to attack.
She offered an invitation in the high line, baiting a thrust she was ready to parry.
Experienced opponents rarely fall for an obvious invitation.
Similaropening
Note
Fencing turns the welcome into a trap. The fencer exposes a target line on purpose, hoping to draw a committed attack that can be parried and answered with a riposte. The skill lies in making the opening look like a lapse rather than an offer. In effect it is the sense of enticement put to tactical use, with the opponent's own eagerness as the weapon.
- 5In bridge, a bid signaling to one's partner that game or slam is likely if their hand lies at the strong end of what they have shown.
Holding a balanced fifteen points, he raised to an invitation rather than bidding game outright.
Her partner accepted the invitation and bid the slam.
Note
Bridge players use it for a bid that leaves the last word to partner. It is non-forcing, and partner goes on to game or slam only with values at the top of the range they have already shown. Partners accept or refuse an invitation, and it is often named by its goal, as in the slam invitation of Matthew and Pamela Granovetter's The Best of Bridge Today Digest (2001).
- 6In the Anglican communion service, the brief exhortation that introduces the confession.
The curate's invitation called the faithful to confess their sins with humble hearts.
Following the invitation, the people knelt and confessed in unison.
Note
A liturgical term with a fixed place in the Anglican order of service. It is the short exhortation in which the priest calls the congregation to make the general confession, and it comes immediately before the confession itself. What is being requested is not attendance but penitence, which sets it apart from the ordinary act of inviting even though the shape of the request is the same.
Practice
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Origin
From Middle English invitacioun, from Latin invītātio, reinforced by Middle French invitation. It replaced the native Middle English word lathinge, from Old English laþung.