SUPPLICATION

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does supplication mean? 

• SUPPLICATION (noun)
  The noun SUPPLICATION has 3 senses:

1. a prayer asking God's help as part of a religious service

2. a humble request for help from someone in authority

3. the act of communicating with a deity (especially as a petition or in adoration or contrition or thanksgiving)

  Familiarity information: SUPPLICATION used as a noun is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• SUPPLICATION (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A prayer asking God's help as part of a religious service

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Synonyms:

invocation; supplication

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

orison; petition; prayer (reverent petition to a deity)

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

rogation (a solemn supplication ceremony prescribed by the church)

Holonyms ("supplication" is a part of...):

divine service; religious service; service (the act of public worship following prescribed rules)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A humble request for help from someone in authority

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Synonyms:

plea; supplication

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

appeal; entreaty; prayer (earnest or urgent request)

Derivation:

supplicate (ask humbly (for something))

Sense 3

Meaning:

The act of communicating with a deity (especially as a petition or in adoration or contrition or thanksgiving)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

prayer; supplication

Context example:

the priest sank to his knees in prayer

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

worship (the activity of worshipping)

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

devotion ((usually plural) religious observance or prayers (usually spoken silently))

benediction; blessing (the act of praying for divine protection)

 Context examples 

Then he hesitated, drew back, came forward again, and at last, to my wonder and confusion, threw himself on his knees and held out his clasped hands in supplication.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

She was immediately surrounded by supplications; everybody asked it; even Edmund said, “Do, Fanny, if it is not very disagreeable to you.”

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

But all in vain; Catherine felt herself to be in the right, and though pained by such tender, such flattering supplication, could not allow it to influence her.

(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)

I remembered Adam’s supplication to his Creator.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

“Oh, spare me, Mr. Holmes! Spare me!” she pleaded, in a frenzy of supplication.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Alleyne Edricson bent his head while the Abbot poured out his heartfelt supplication that Heaven would watch over this young soul, now going forth into the darkness and danger of the world.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

This lock of hair, which now he can so readily give up, was begged of me with the most earnest supplication.

(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)

He looked upon her, while she made this supplication, in a wild distracted manner; and, when she was silent, gently raised her.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

I abandoned it and framed a humbler supplication; for change, stimulus: that petition, too, seemed swept off into vague space: "Then," I cried, half desperate, "grant me at least a new servitude!"

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

He was too angry to say another word; her manner too decided to invite supplication; and in this state of swelling resentment, and mutually deep mortification, they had to continue together a few minutes longer, for the fears of Mr. Woodhouse had confined them to a foot-pace.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)