request
verb · noun
Simple meaning
Ask to do something.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
rihkwehstSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ɹɪkˈwɛst
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
verb
Ask (a person) to do something
transitive or with a subjunctive clause
To ask for (something).
transitive
To ask (somebody) to do something.
noun
The verbal act of requesting
Act of requesting (with the adposition at in the presence of possessives, and on in their absence).
Condition of being sought after.
A formal message requesting something that is submitted to an authority
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- A1 · Beginner
- Frequency
- Very Common
- Typical Use
- Everyday English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: Ask (a person) to do something
Used this way, request is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- No strong connotation
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use request
- “She requested an extra bed in her room.”verb
- “I requested information from the secretary.”verb
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Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Inflected forms
Grammatical variations of the same word.
Asked for.
One praying humbly for something.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
An expression of some desire or inclination.
On the occasion of a request.
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.