INVITATION

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does invitation mean? 

• INVITATION (noun)
  The noun INVITATION has 2 senses:

1. a request (spoken or written) to participate or be present or take part in something

2. a tempting allurement

  Familiarity information: INVITATION used as a noun is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• INVITATION (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A request (spoken or written) to participate or be present or take part in something

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Context example:

she threw the invitation away

Hypernyms ("invitation" is a kind of...):

letter; missive (a written message addressed to a person or organization)

asking; request (the verbal act of requesting)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "invitation"):

bidding; summons (a request to be present)

invite (a colloquial expression for invitation)

Derivation:

invitational (pertaining to or characteristic of an invitation)

invite (ask someone in a friendly way to do something)

invite (request the participation or presence of)

invite (ask to enter)

invite (express willingness to have in one's home or environs)

invite (invite someone to one's house)

invite (have as a guest)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A tempting allurement

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Context example:

she was an invitation to trouble

Hypernyms ("invitation" is a kind of...):

allure; allurement; temptingness (the power to entice or attract through personal charm)

Derivation:

invite (increase the likelihood of)

invite (give rise to a desire by being attractive or inviting)

 Context examples 

Such an opportunity of being with Edward and his family was, above all things, the most material to her interest, and such an invitation the most gratifying to her feelings!

(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)

You may get a spontaneous invitation from a friend to visit him or her, and if so, go!

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)

and one listener was so thrilled by the tender invitation that she longed to say she did know the land, and would joyfully depart thither whenever he liked.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

We may take it that the letter came out of this strange household and was an invitation to Garcia to carry out some attempt which had already been planned.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

A very gracious invitation was returned, and the evening no longer dreaded by the fair mistress of the mansion.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

I was always looking out, as may be supposed, for another invitation to Mr. Spenlow's house.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

I had seated myself on a settee in the corner, upon the Prince’s invitation, and very glad I was to remain quiet and unnoticed, listening to the talk of these men.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Yet it sent the blood to his temples again, and he wondered, as he turned away, what the Abbot Berghersh would have answered to so frank an invitation.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

A Non-Probability Sample: any of a variety of other sampling processes, such as convenience sampling or invitation to volunteer.

(Observational Study Protocol Version Sampling Method Code, NCI Thesaurus/BRIDG)

And this satisfied Elizabeth: and when the invitation was given to the two present, and promised for the absent, Mary was as completely satisfied.

(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)