evoke

[ih-vohk]

verb (used with object), e·voked, e·vok·ing.

to call up or produce (memories, feelings, etc.): to evoke a memory.

to elicit or draw forth: His comment evoked protests from the shocked listeners.

to call up; cause to appear; summon: to evoke a spirit from the dead.

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.

Origin of evoke

1615–25; < Latin ēvocāre, equivalent to ē- e-¹ + vocāre to call (akin to vōx voice)

Related formse·vok·er, nounun·e·voked, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for evoker

Historical Examples of evoker

The voice ceased and the evoker offered a prayer of adoration.
Visions and Beliefs in the West of Ireland, First Series
Lady Gregory
I did not, and the seeress did not, and the evoker of spirits did not and could not.
Ideas of Good and Evil
William Butler Yeats
The evoker of spirits said they must be making some kind of masonic house.
Ideas of Good and Evil
William Butler Yeats
I sat with my acquaintance in the middle of the room, and the evoker of spirits on the dais, and his wife between us and him.
Ideas of Good and Evil
William Butler Yeats
The evoker of spirits saw them too, and said that one of them held up his arms and they were without hands.
Ideas of Good and Evil
William Butler Yeats

British Dictionary definitions for evoker

evoke

verb (tr)

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

to call forth or provoke; produce; elicithis words evoked an angry reply

to cause (spirits) to appear; conjure up

Derived Formsevocable (ˈɛvəkəbəl), adjectiveevoker, noun

Word Origin for evoke

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

xref

See evince, invoke

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for evoker

evoke

1620s, from French évoquer or directly from Latin evocare "call out, rouse, summon" (see evocation). Often more or less with a sense of "calling spirits," or being called by them. Related: Evoked; evokes; evoking.