convoke
Americanverb (used with object)
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Etymology
Origin of convoke
First recorded in 1590–1600; from Middle French convoquer, from Latin convocāre, from con- con- + vocāre “to call”
Explanation
To convoke is to call to a meeting, especially a formal meeting. When planning military strategy, a nation's leader might convoke her trusted advisors and top generals. Convoke emerged in the 14th century, from the Latin word convocare — "to call together;" the definition stands today unchanged. Use convoke when you are speaking of people or a group being summoned for an official gathering, like the kind the government or a large organization holds.
Vocabulary lists containing convoke
John F. Kennedy's Address to the American People on the Cuban Missile Crisis (1962)
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Second Treatise of Government
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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.
That would ease passage of some of Castro's legislative priorities, but her pledge to convoke an assembly to rewrite the country's constitution could still be blocked since that would require a two-thirds majority.
From Reuters • Dec. 1, 2021
Fernandez currently has a working majority in both houses of Congress, but would need two-thirds' congressional support to convoke an elected constitutional assembly.
From Reuters • Oct. 18, 2012
Messori explained that if a Pope decided he was no longer capable of leading the Church, he would convoke a Consistory of all the world's cardinals at the Vatican.
From Time • Jan. 27, 2010
To meet Yenan's demand for an all-party constitutional convention, Chungking offered to convoke an all-party meeting to consider "military and political unification pending a national congress."
From Time Magazine Archive
Charles had asked his aunt to convoke the States-General, and he found them assembled when he 179 arrived at Brussels.
From The First Governess of the Netherlands, Margaret of Austria by Tremayne, Eleanor E.
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.
