invite
Americanverb (used with object)
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invites,
present (3rd person singular)
-
invited,
past participle, past
-
inviting
present participle
-
to request the presence or participation of in a kindly, courteous, or complimentary way, especially to request to come or go to some place, gathering, entertainment, etc., or to do something.
to invite friends to dinner.
- Synonyms:
- bid
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to request politely or formally.
to invite donations.
- Synonyms:
- solicit
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to act so as to bring on or render probable.
to invite accidents by fast driving.
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to call forth or give occasion for.
Those big shoes invite laughter.
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to attract, allure, entice, or tempt.
verb (used without object)
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invites,
present (3rd person singular)
-
invited,
past participle, past
-
inviting
present participle
noun
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invites
plural
verb
-
to ask (a person or persons) in a friendly or polite way (to do something, attend an event, etc)
he invited them to dinner
-
to make a request for, esp publicly or formally
to invite applications
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to bring on or provoke; give occasion for
you invite disaster by your actions
-
to welcome or tempt
noun
Synonym Usage
See call.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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inviteenoun
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inviternoun
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invitornoun
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reinviteverb
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preinviteverb (used with object)
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quasi-invitedadjective
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self-invitedadjective
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uninvitedadjective
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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invitesimple
-
invitessimple
-
have invitedperfect
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has invitedperfect
-
am invitingprogressive
-
are invitingprogressive
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is invitingprogressive
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have been invitingperfect progressive
-
has been invitingperfect progressive
Past
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invitedsimple
-
had invitedperfect
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was invitingprogressive
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were invitingprogressive
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had been invitingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of invite
First recorded in 1525–35, invite is from the Latin word invītāre
Explanation
When you invite a friend to do something, you request her company, or encourage her to come with you. You might invite a group of neighbors to help you throw a block party. You could invite your friend to join you on a road trip, or invite your parents to your art show at a local gallery. You're making a polite request. Similarly, a newspaper might invite readers' comments, or a school might invite ideas for how to spend grant money. Invite is also casual shorthand for "invitation." When you tempt someone to react, you also invite that reaction: "Your strange film really invites harsh criticism."
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.
See Examples For:
"Someone might invite you to go for food or to go for a drink - and you're like, 'I don't really want to say no because this is a chance to connect with someone.'"
From BBC ● Aug. 15, 2026
The dynamics of this long table invite several different conversations to break out — all about cars.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 13, 2026
The knock on such megamergers is well-known: They distract management, sow years of organizational chaos, and invite regulatory scrutiny.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 6, 2026
It appears that you were happier to see an invite from your New York friend who you have not seen since the pandemic, but you had a sense that something was off.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 4, 2026
Why would I judge her for wanting to invite another friend?
From "I Can Make This Promise" by Christine Day
The Cinematheque already invites filmmakers and other guests to choose individual films for its weekly Sunday Print Edition series, but handing someone an entire series to program was another matter.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 21, 2026
The risk is it invites people to keep contacting you as if you were still at work.
From BBC ● Aug. 17, 2026
Soon after opening a separate office in his native northern England he gave an interview there to Elizabeth Day, a writer, whose podcast "How to Fail" invites celebrities to reflect on mistakes they have made.
From Barron's ● Aug. 16, 2026
We spent over a week analyzing those videos frame-by-frame to pull out every detail we could find—usernames, emails, calendar invites and internal tools.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 14, 2026
Mom invites your friends inside when it’s raining.
From "One Crazy Summer" by Rita Williams-Garcia
Regan Slater: Superb curling free-kick invited Nobel Mendy to attack it for Hull's second.
From BBC ● Aug. 22, 2026
“Vandenberg takes both installation security and our responsibility to invited media seriously.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 21, 2026
The researchers compared people invited to screening between 2008 and 2012 with a control group whose members were either invited later or were not invited at all.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 21, 2026
The library was established in 1931 by the first Labour Prime Minister, Ramsay MacDonald, and since then prime ministers and ministers have been invited to make contributions.
From BBC ● Aug. 21, 2026
She was, of course, invited to stay for dinner.
From "South of Somewhere" by Kalena Miller
Most of the Iranian artists left their instructions generously open-ended, inviting the interpretations and transmutations of their U.S. peers.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 20, 2026
Part of that means inviting viewers to see her lifestyle.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 16, 2026
The country has run a high-profile campaign inviting the African diaspora - particularly African-Americans - to visit the continent.
From BBC ● Aug. 16, 2026
Washington also needs a RISC-V strategy that reduces dependence on Arm without inviting dependence on China.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 9, 2026
I didn’t have Samir’s shameless approach of inviting myself into the lives of others.
From "The Many Assassinations of Samir, the Seller of Dreams" by Daniel Nayeri
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.
