invade
Americanverb (used with object)
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to enter forcefully as an enemy; go into with hostile intent.
Germany invaded Poland in 1939.
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to enter like an enemy.
Locusts invaded the fields.
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to enter as if to take possession.
to invade a neighbor's home.
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to enter and affect injuriously or destructively, as disease.
viruses that invade the bloodstream.
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to intrude upon.
to invade the privacy of a family.
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to encroach or infringe upon.
to invade the rights of citizens.
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to permeate.
The smell of baking invades the house.
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to penetrate; spread into or over.
The population boom has caused city dwellers to invade the suburbs.
verb (used without object)
verb
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to enter (a country, territory, etc) by military force
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(tr) to occupy in large numbers; overrun; infest
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(tr) to trespass or encroach upon (privacy, etc)
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(tr) to enter and spread throughout, esp harmfully; pervade
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(of plants, esp weeds) to become established in (a place to which they are not native)
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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invadernoun
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reinvadeverb (used with object)
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invadableadjective
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quasi-invadedadjective
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uninvadableadjective
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uninvadedadjective
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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invadesimple
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invadessimple
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have invadedperfect
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has invadedperfect
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am invadingprogressive
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are invadingprogressive
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is invadingprogressive
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have been invadingperfect progressive
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has been invadingperfect progressive
Past
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invadedsimple
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had invadedperfect
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was invadingprogressive
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were invadingprogressive
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had been invadingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of invade
First recorded in 1485–95; from Latin invādere, from in- in- 2 + vādere “to go, walk” ( see also wade)
Explanation
When you Invade, you aggressively take over or occupy a place. If a country's leader wants to gain more land, the military might invade a neighboring country. Not everything that invades is militaristic. Some things that invade are cultural, such as the phenomena of young, stylish people moving into a neighborhood that had never been thought of as cool before. In an instant, new restaurants and shops catering to the newcomers open and soon the area is overrun with people wearing, say, skinny jeans and complicated eyewear. Natives to the area lament, "This place has been invaded by hipsters."
Vocabulary lists containing invade
"To Kill a Mockingbird" by Harper Lee, Chapters 12–15
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Bronx Masquerade
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Beowulf vocabulary
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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.
See Examples For:
Constitutional privacy is not lost because the government chooses to invade it one fragment at a time.
From Slate ● Jun. 29, 2026
All of the risk stemmed from Hitler’s decision to break his nonaggression pact with Stalin and invade the western part of the U.S.S.R. in June 1941.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 23, 2026
Their work helps answer longstanding questions about how these viruses launch replication once they invade a cell.
From Science Daily ● May 13, 2026
Citing sources in the Danish government, it reported that soldiers, medical supplies and blood were flown into Greenland in January to blow up key airport runways over fears that Trump would invade the arctic island.
From Salon ● Mar. 27, 2026
“I have no wish to invade your realms, Miss Lumley. But perhaps I might borrow a chair? The one at my table is rather wobbly in the leg.”
From "The Interrupted Tale" by Maryrose Wood
A rowdy card of mixed-martial arts invades the South Lawn.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 15, 2026
Researchers led by Tajie Harris, PhD, set out to understand how the immune system responds when Toxoplasma invades CD8+ T cells, which are specialized immune cells responsible for killing infected cells.
From Science Daily ● Feb. 16, 2026
If the United States invades Greenland, she will flee her home with her daughter.
From Barron's ● Jan. 17, 2026
Civil rights groups and privacy campaigners have consistently opposed LFRT, saying it invades people's privacy, and carries an unacceptable risk of misidentification.
From BBC ● Aug. 20, 2025
A sorrow as black as the night outside invades me, and I feel my throat clamping.
From "The Kite Runner" by Khaled Hosseini
In court, the state and cities argued that Operation Metro Surge had invaded state and municipal authority.
From Slate ● Jul. 27, 2026
Argentina, ruled at the time by a military junta led by General Leopoldo Galtieri, invaded the islands, situated 300 miles off Argentina's east coast, in 1982.
From BBC ● Jul. 16, 2026
“A large group of agitators invaded Newport Beach, spurred on by an alleged ‘TikTok Takeover,’” the Instagram post read, which was later attributed to Joe DeJulio, president of the police association.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 5, 2026
“I’ve always associated horror with summertime, actually. Like ‘Friday the 13th,’ ‘Sleepaway Camp’” — in essence, the freedom of summer invaded by fear and death.
From Salon ● Jun. 30, 2026
Sea otters invaded streams and ponds, gobbling up freshwater fish and driving out many of the longtime residents.
From "The Wild Robot Protects" by Peter Brown
Translated into constitutional terms, Minnesota argued that the surge violated federalist principles by invading the state’s reserved police powers: the broad authority to govern public health, safety, welfare, and order.
From Slate ● Jul. 27, 2026
"I felt I wanted to move away, he was invading my personal space," she told the court.
From BBC ● Jul. 14, 2026
The prince gave emotional testimony during the proceedings in which several high-profile figures, including singer Elton John and actor Elizabeth Hurley, accused the tabloid publisher of invading their privacy.
From Barron's ● Jul. 10, 2026
An upset stomach was the story that struck fear into the Scotland support invading Boston prior to their opener, but he still played.
From BBC ● Jun. 20, 2026
No fighting or bombing or invading other places, just living out in the open, on the beach.
From "We Were Here" by Matt De La Peña
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.
