evoke

[ih-vohk]

verb (used with object)

evoked, evoking 

1. to call up or produce (memories, feelings, etc.).

   to evoke a memory.

2. to elicit or draw forth.

   His comment evoked protests from the shocked listeners.

3. to call up; cause to appear; summon.

   to evoke a spirit from the dead.

4. to produce or suggest through artistry and imagination a vivid impression of reality.

   a short passage that manages to evoke the smells, colors, sounds, and shapes of that metropolis.

evoke

/ ˈɛvəkəbəl, ɪˈvəʊk /

verb

1. to call or summon up (a memory, feeling, etc), esp from the past

2. to call forth or provoke; produce; elicit

   his words evoked an angry reply

3. to cause (spirits) to appear; conjure up

Other Word Forms

• evoker noun
• unevoked adjective
• evocable adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of evoke¹

First recorded in 1615–25; from Latin ēvocāre, from ē- e- ¹ + vocāre “to call” (akin to vōx voice )

Word History and Origins

Origin of evoke¹

C17: from Latin ēvocāre to call forth, from vocāre to call

Example Sentences

Decades earlier, in another moment of awakening, Nehru had been evoking something far larger - a nation's rebirth.

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The story is a stark coming-of-age journey that evokes a bygone America while also nodding to a dystopian future.

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Nevertheless, each life has its own particular flavours and textures, and I will attempt to evoke those of mine.”

Read more on Los Angeles Times

If you use ChatGPT in voice mode, you can go to Settings/General/Voice to find a range of voices you can use in ChatGPT’s default Advanced voice mode, evoking different genders, nationalities and ethnicities.

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“The Library of Lost Maps” begins in this way, with a suitably romantic discovery that evokes the musty, analog nature of the map room’s treasures.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Related Words

• arouse 
• conjure 
• elicit 
• invoke 
• provoke 
• recall