evocative
Americanadjective
adjective
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of evocative
1650–60; < Latin ēvocātīvus, equivalent to ēvocāt ( us ) ( see evoke, -ate 1) + -īvus -ive
Explanation
Use the adjective evocative when you want to describe something that reminds you of something else. If your mom baked a lot when you were a kid, the smell of cookies in the oven is probably evocative of your childhood. Evocative comes from the Latin word evocare, which means to "call out" or "summon." Think of a batch of cookies summoning a memory from your childhood. To summon something you need a voice, and indeed, the Latin word for voice is vocare. Other related words include the noun vocation, which means "a calling."
Vocabulary lists containing evocative
This Week in Words: April 13–19, 2019
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"Politics and the English Language" by George Orwell
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The Night Circus
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Evocative of TikTok’s vertical video scroll, the feed features a mix of everything from audio books to music videos and, Söderström said, will emphasize content discovery and recommendation.
From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 8, 2023
Evocative passages like this one stud the novel like diamonds.
From Washington Post • Jan. 25, 2022
Evocative of the happy face that’s the ultimate symbol of Watchmen.
From Slate • Oct. 18, 2019
Evocative displays capture the excitement of the post-1945 boom years, when frozen meals liberated working wives or franchised restaurant and motel chains promised a highly mobile population a modern, standardised product wherever they were.
From Economist • Jun. 25, 2015
It was formerly directed by one Longfellow, an adventurer, born in Scotland, who entitled himself grand priest of the New Evocative Magism.
From Là-bas by Wallace, Keene
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
