petition the court

/pəˈtɪʃən ðə kɔːrt/

verb phrase

  1. to make a formal written request to a court asking it to take a particular action or decide a case in your favour

    C1

    transitive; often followed by 'to' + infinitive or 'for' + nounlegal, formal

    • "She petitioned the court for custody of her child."B2
    • "The company petitioned the court to review the decision."C1
    • "Residents petitioned the court to block the new development, arguing that the council had ignored planning rules."C1

Common mistakes

  • petition to the court→petition the court

    Petition is used here as a transitive verb, so 'to' is not needed before 'the court'.

Collocations

petition the court for custodypetition the court to intervenepetition for divorcepetition for relieffile a petition

Word family

petitionpetitionerpetitioning