supplication

From Middle English supplicacioun, supplication, from Old French supplication, from Latin supplicatio, supplicationem, from supplicare (“to supplicate”).

• IPA^(key): /sʌplɪˈkeɪʃən/

supplication (countable and uncountable, plural supplications)

1. An act of supplicating; a humble request.
   • 2025 April 10, Adam Serwer, “The Confrontation Between Trump and the Supreme Court Has Arrived”, in The Atlantic:

     If Trump defies the Court, there is little to restrain him from acting as an autocrat, given the supplication of Republicans in Congress.

   1. (Islam) du'a', minor or private prayer performed individually.
2. A prayer or entreaty to a god.
3. (historical) In Ancient Rome, a solemn service or day decreed for giving formal thanks to the gods for victory, etc.
4. The process by which a doctorate at Oxford university is officially requested after a thesis has been approved.

Inherited from Old French, borrowed from Latin supplicātiōnem.

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supplication f (plural supplications)

1. supplication

• supplier

• “supplication”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.