Meaning & use
requisition
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Meanings
nouncountablebusiness
A formal written request for supplies or equipment, usually made within an organization.
Grammar: Often followed by for: a requisition for paper.
Patterns
- a requisition for something
- submit a requisition
The nurse filed a requisition for new bandages.
Every purchase needs a signed requisition from your manager.
The school sent a requisition for fifty textbooks.
nouncountable or uncountablemilitary
An official order to take or use something, especially by an authority in an emergency.
Grammar: Used about government or army orders: the requisition of vehicles.
Patterns
- the requisition of something
The army ordered the requisition of every truck in the district.
Farmers resisted the requisition of their grain.
The hospital faced requisition during the epidemic.
verbtransitiveformal
To officially order or take something for use, especially in a crisis.
Grammar: Takes an object: requisition a building.
Patterns
- requisition something from someone
- requisition something for something
The government requisitioned the hotel as a shelter.
Troops requisitioned horses from local farms.
The agency requisitioned extra vehicles after the flood.
Word forms
| plural | requisitions |
|---|---|
| third person singular | requisitions |
| past tense | requisitioned |
| past participle | requisitioned |
| -ing form | requisitioning |
Common combinations
- requisition form
- Please complete the requisition form in triplicate.
- submit a requisition
- You must submit a requisition before ordering any equipment.
- requisition order
- The purchasing office approved the requisition order.
- requisition supplies
- The camp commander requisitioned supplies from the town.
- emergency requisition
- An emergency requisition allowed the city to use private boats.
Synonyms and how they differ
- request
- Request is general and polite, while requisition is a formal or official demand.
- commandeer
- Commandeer implies seizing by force or authority, often without payment, as in wartime.
- order
- Order is a general instruction to buy or deliver, while requisition comes from inside an organization or authority.
- demand
- Demand is a strong insistence and not necessarily official, unlike requisition.
Opposites
Word family
- requisitioned adjective
- taken for official use
- require verb
- to need or demand
- requirement noun
- something needed
- requisite adjective
- necessary or required
Commonly confused: requisition or acquisition?
requisition vs acquisition
An acquisition is something obtained or bought, while a requisition is an official request or order for supplies.
Practice
To get new laptops, the department had to submit a ___ to the purchasing office.
Choose one answer.
A requisition is a formal request for supplies. The other words are nouns that do not describe a request.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “requisition”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.