invade
Americanverb (used with object)
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invades,
present (3rd person singular)
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invaded,
past participle, past
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invading
present participle
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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)
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invades,
present (3rd person singular)
-
invaded,
past participle, past
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invading
present participle
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:
If China does invade, Lin says he would “fight tooth and nail” to defend the island.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 10, 2026
Constitutional privacy is not lost because the government chooses to invade it one fragment at a time.
From Slate ● Jun. 29, 2026
Their work helps answer longstanding questions about how these viruses launch replication once they invade a cell.
From Science Daily ● May 13, 2026
A 10-week conflict in 1982 was triggered when Argentina's military dictator, Leopoldo Galtieri, ordered his country's forces to invade the islands.
From BBC ● Apr. 24, 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
Jurgen Klopp started his reign as Germany's head coach by threatening to quit if the media invades his family's privacy.
From BBC ● Jul. 24, 2026
The afterglow of aristocratic grace, the poet noted, was obscured by the “rising tide of democracy, which invades and levels all things.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 15, 2026
The current odds External link that the U.S. invades Greenland in 2026, acquires Greenland in 2026, or acquires Greenland in 2027 are 10%, 23%, and 18%, respectively.
From Barron's ● Jan. 14, 2026
"We knew that Salmonella invades the small intestine, although it is not its primary site of replication. The colon is," said the lead author of the study Andreas Bäumler.
From Science Daily ● Nov. 15, 2024
Wind lifts my hair, scrubs sand and salt against my skin, invades my nose.
From "Everything, Everything" by Nicola Yoon
When Russia invaded, 55-year-old Trotsenko -- who was born in Soviet Kazakhstan -- switched from making car charging stations to military robots.
From Barron's ● Aug. 7, 2026
In court, the state and cities argued that Operation Metro Surge had invaded state and municipal authority.
From Slate ● Jul. 27, 2026
Cambridgeshire Constabulary says it was "very stretched" on the January day last year when Mathew Latta's farm was invaded, and the force says it did not respond the way it would have wanted.
From BBC ● Jul. 25, 2026
A tranquil opening shot consists of a beautiful seaside view that’s quickly invaded by buzzing drones carrying packages.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 24, 2026
If he hadn’t liked it when one new person—me—had invaded his world, I could only imagine what this was doing to his nerves.
From "The Darkest Minds" by Alexandra Bracken
Although Perez’s livestream proceeded for around 15 minutes before it was shut down, screenshots and clips rocketed across the internet, invading countless social media feeds.
From Salon ● Aug. 6, 2026
Jenner hates the paparazzi for invading her privacy but sees no moral quandary in collecting a check from Mark Zuckerberg, who wants to invade everyone’s privacy.
From Slate ● Aug. 5, 2026
When arginine is scarce, cells struggle to produce MHC-1, a protein that helps alert the immune system to threats such as mutated cells and invading viruses.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 3, 2026
He still gets emotional recalling the remarkable reception he received landing on “Pluribus,” his first American set, to play one of 13 individuals in the world immune to an invading hive mind.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 3, 2026
It all seemed very weedy and rank somehow, and thorns and bracken were invading the beds down near the bottom hedge.
From "The Two Towers" by J. R. R. Tolkien
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.
