invasion
Americannoun
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an act or instance of invading or entering as an enemy, especially by an army.
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the entrance or advent of anything troublesome or harmful, as disease.
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entrance as if to take possession or overrun.
the annual invasion of the resort by tourists.
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infringement by intrusion.
noun
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the act of invading with armed forces
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any encroachment or intrusion
an invasion of rats
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the onset or advent of something harmful, esp of a disease
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pathol the spread of cancer from its point of origin into surrounding tissues
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the movement of plants to a new area or to an area to which they are not native
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of invasion
1400–50; late Middle English < Late Latin invāsīon- (stem of invāsiō ), equivalent to invās ( us ), past participle of invādere + -iōn- -ion; see invade
Explanation
An invasion is the movement of an army into a region, usually in a hostile attack that's part of a war or conflict. World history is full of descriptions of invasions. One country's army plundering or taking over a city or piece of land in another country is an invasion. You can call other mass movements invasions as well, like a horrifying invasion of your kitchen by cockroaches, or the invasion of a stadium by excited soccer fans. A common phrase is "invasion of privacy," which means an unfair intrusion into someone's personal space or private information.
Vocabulary lists containing invasion
Persepolis
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Franklin D. Roosevelt, "A Date That Will Live In Infamy" (1941)
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Excerpt from "The Diary of Anne Frank"
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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.
The Constitution explicitly states that the right can be suspended only through an act of Congress and only “when in Cases of Rebellion or Invasion the public Safety may require it.”
From Slate • Jun. 18, 2026
The Ronettes disbanded in 1967 as Motown and the British Invasion were edging out singing groups and Spector’s grip on the group increased.
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 27, 2026
Mr. Gould convincingly argues that the British Invasion encoded “a distinct strain of art-school sensibility into the archetype of a ‘rock group.’”
From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 9, 2025
He played Georgio, the waiter in the crumbling hotel, in Carry On Abroad in 1972, and also killed daleks and cybermen in the 1966 Dr Who movie Daleks' Invasion Earth: 2150 A.D.
From BBC • Aug. 10, 2025
But history is written by the victors, and Glorious Revolution sounds so much better than Invasion if you want to keep the populace happy.
From "The Scientists" by John Gribbin
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.
