petitioner

noun

pe·​ti·​tion·​er pə-ˈti-sh(ə-)nər 

plural petitioners

: one who makes, submits, or signs a petition

The lost children had not been found. Public prayers had been offered up for them, and many and many a private prayer that had the petitioner's whole heart in it; but still no good news came from the cave.

—Mark Twain

The high court held that when a petition charges an official with violating the law, the petitioners must at least have knowledge of facts which indicate an intent to commit an unlawful act.

—The National Law Journal

The petitioner contended that the taking of the blood sample and the admission of the test results violated his fifth amendment privilege against self-incrimination …

—Raymond P. Ward

… the draft of the proposed petition was read at length: and the petition said, as all petitions DO say, that the petitioners were very humble, and the petitioned very honourable, and the object very virtuous; therefore (said the petition) the bill ought to be passed into a law at once …

—Charles Dickens

Included in Wednesday's court filing was a petition signed by more than 500 area residents. The petitioners ask that Johnson "be shown mercy and not subjected to a jail term" because he has lost so much due to the conviction.

—Michael Smith

Synonyms

• pleader
• solicitor
• suitor
• suppliant
• supplicant

Examples of petitioner in a Sentence

the lottery winner was beset by a horde of petitioners, all of whom thought that they were most deserving of his charity

Recent Examples on the Web

Hugh, one of Aegon’s petitioners, is being told by his wife that food in town is getting scarce. —Omar L. Gallaga, Washington Post, 24 June 2024

Other petitioners seeking to place questions on the November ballot have been gathering signatures for months. —Emily Opilo, Baltimore Sun, 13 June 2024

Petitions are filed with the National Labor Relations Board, the independent federal agency that safeguards employees’ rights to unionize and which schedules and oversees elections for petitioners. —Emily Le Coz, USA TODAY, 12 Apr. 2024

The number of petitioners seeking redress from the government increased dramatically, and nationwide, demonstrations eventually exceeded 100,000 per year. —Cai Xia, Foreign Affairs, 4 Dec. 2020

Word History

First Known Use

15th century, in the meaning defined above