The act of demanding or requesting urgently and persistently; earnest or shameful begging.
From Latin flagitatio, derived from flagitare (to demand urgently). Entered English through scholarly and religious texts, particularly in medieval and Renaissance literature.
In old literature, 'flagitation' describes that aggressive, insistent begging we see in Shakespeare's plays—characters literally 'flagitating' the king for mercy or demanding justice with desperate urgency.
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