petitions
Signed collective pleas
Petitions are formal written requests, typically signed by many people and addressed to an authority.
Citizens petition governments for policy changes; employees petition management for better conditions.
The verb petition means to make such a request: They petitioned the city council to ban plastic bags.
In law, a petition is a formal application to a court: a petition for divorce, a bankruptcy petition.
Formal request or defense
- entreatyEarnest, urgent request
- supplicationHumble plea for help
- requestFormal act of seeking
- solicitationSeeking to obtain
imploration · beseeching · prayer · invocation · grievance · redress · reconsideration · review
Public display of opinion
- rallyGathering for a cause
- marchRhythmic group walk
- boycottOrganized economic protest
- strikeForceful impact or stoppage
sit-in · walkout · picketing · dissent · resistance · opposition · grievance · redress
Handwritten names as authentication
- grassrootsCommon people as political base
- activismDirect effort for reform
- movementChange in position
- campaignOrganized effort toward goal
advocacy · lobbying · organizing · coalition · signatories · supporters · endorsements · canvassing
Inherent physical or structural makeup
- amendmentChange to official text
- freedomAbsence of constraint
- civilMinimally polite
- libertiesProtected individual rights
suffrage · franchise · voting · enfranchisement · emancipation · abolition · equality · justice
Legal dispute process
- plaintiffCivil case initiator
- defendantParty facing charges
- courtTrial venue or sports surface
- writCourt-issued directive
injunction · pleadings · affidavit · filing · docket · jurisdiction · habeas corpus · mandamus
plea
Formal request or defense
- entreatyEarnest, urgent request
- supplicationHumble plea for help
- requestFormal act of seeking
solicitation · imploration · beseeching · prayer · invocation · grievance · redress · reconsideration · review · complaint
demonstration
Public display of opinion
strike · sit-in · walkout · picketing · dissent · resistance · opposition · grievance · redress · civil disobedience
signatures
Handwritten names as authentication
- grassrootsCommon people as political base
- activismDirect effort for reform
- movementChange in position
campaign · advocacy · lobbying · organizing · coalition · signatories · supporters · endorsements · canvassing · mobilization
constitution
Inherent physical or structural makeup
liberties · suffrage · franchise · voting · enfranchisement · emancipation · abolition · equality · justice · human rights
litigation
Legal dispute process
writ · injunction · pleadings · affidavit · filing · docket · jurisdiction · habeas corpus · mandamus · certiorari
- civicsballot, election, ballots, Bill of Rights, branches of government
- activismboycotts, activists, activist, advocate, demonstrating
- lawslaws, statute, ordinance, acts, statutes
- Colonial Americanacolonial laws, almanacs, Benjamin Franklin, William Bradford, Thomas Paine
- colonial recordsland records, colonial maps, military records, land deeds, property deeds
- court recordscourt documents, court transcripts, court records, court cases, court record
- online petitionDigital document seeking signatures
- petition driveOrganized effort collecting signatures
- divorce petitionFormal request to end marriage
- sign the petition
- bankruptcy petitionLegal request for debt relief
- recall petitionDemand to remove elected official
petition, repetition, petitioning, petitioned, petitioner, petitioners