invoke
Americanverb (used with object)
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invokes,
present (3rd person singular)
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invoked,
past participle, past
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invoking
present participle
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to call for with earnest desire; make supplication or pray for.
to invoke God's mercy.
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to call on (a deity, Muse, etc.), as in prayer or supplication.
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to declare to be binding or in effect.
to invoke the law;
to invoke a veto.
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to appeal to, as for confirmation.
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to petition or call on for help or aid.
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to call forth or upon (a spirit) by incantation.
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Computers. to cause to be displayed, opened, or executed by clicking on a link, entering a search term, changing a parameter, etc..
Press and hold the R key to temporarily invoke the Rotate View tool, then drag your document to rotate.
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to cause, call forth, or bring about.
verb
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to call upon (an agent, esp God or another deity) for help, inspiration, etc
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to put (a law, penalty, etc) into use
the union invoked the dispute procedure
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to appeal to (an outside agent or authority) for confirmation, corroboration, etc
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to implore or beg (help, etc)
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to summon (a spirit, demon, etc); conjure up
Usage
What does invoke mean? Invoke means to intensely call for something or call on someone, especially as in a prayer to a god or higher power, as in The holy woman invoked God’s mercy in her prayers. Invoke can also mean to call for help from someone (again, usually a god), as in The shamans invoked the gods to save them from the invading army. Invoke may also refer to stating that something is in effect, like a law or rule, as in The police invoked the new littering law when they fined Demetri for tossing his soda bottle on the ground. And invoke can mean to call or conjure a spirit or demon, as in The warlock invoked a group of infernal imps to do his evil bidding. Example: The ritual is meant to invoke the wrath of the gods and bring misfortune to the people’s enemies.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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invokesimple
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invokessimple
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have invokedperfect
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has invokedperfect
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am invokingprogressive
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are invokingprogressive
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is invokingprogressive
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have been invokingperfect progressive
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has been invokingperfect progressive
Past
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invokedsimple
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had invokedperfect
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was invokingprogressive
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were invokingprogressive
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had been invokingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of invoke
First recorded in 1480–90; from Latin invocāre, equivalent to in- in- 2 + vocāre “to call,” akin to vōx voice
Explanation
To invoke is to call up something such as a law, a higher power, or even a ghost. In court, you might invoke the Fifth Amendment (the right not to say something that will make you look bad) if you don't want to talk. You can invoke all kinds of people or ideas, alive or dead: "She invokes the spirit of good writing when she proofreads her work." In a time of need, you might invoke a higher power. You could invoke Martin Luther King when talking about equal rights. You might even invoke the spirit of your dead cat at a séance. Just make sure you don't evoke (to bring on a strong emotional reaction) your dead cat; that would just be weird.
Vocabulary lists containing invoke
Latin Love, Vol I: vocare
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"The Odyssey," Vocabulary from Part 1 of the epic poem
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Abraham Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address (1865)
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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:
“Renting forever doesn’t invoke a lot of confidence in our future finances,” Mortensen said.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 16, 2026
AI leaders, mostly men, mostly in their 40s and 50s, constantly invoke the sci-fi they were raised on.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 15, 2026
In areas such as climate science, pandemics, artificial intelligence or medical research, public conversations frequently invoke scientific consensus.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 9, 2026
It’s hard to find any modern examples of the corporate death penalty, but that doesn’t mean critics of abusive business haven’t attempted to invoke it.
From Salon ● Aug. 19, 2026
The first is the law of large numbers, one of the most significant though often misunderstood theorems in probability theory, and one which people sometimes invoke to justify all sorts of bizarre conclusions.
From "Innumeracy: Mathematical Illiteracy and Its Consequences" by John Allen Paulos
The very history he so powerfully invokes to explain the 14th Amendment’s origins often becomes, in his jurisprudence, a reason to limit rather than enlarge its reach.
From Slate ● Jul. 2, 2026
The book invokes James Carville and David Brooks as prominent talking heads, which is about 20 years out of date.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 3, 2026
The Philippines invokes its geographical proximity to the Spratly Islands as the main basis of its claim for part of the grouping.
From BBC ● Apr. 13, 2026
Revised wording no longer explicitly invokes Chapter 7 of the UN Charter, which allows the Security Council to authorize armed force to restore peace.
From Barron's ● Apr. 3, 2026
Still a third type of answer to Yali invokes the supposed importance of lowland river valleys in dry climates, where highly productive agriculture depended on large-scale irrigation systems that in turn required centralized bureaucracies.
From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond
He and Iribarren sometimes invoked their discussions with the Trump administration, though they didn’t suggest the White House had endorsed their efforts, people familiar with the matter added.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 10, 2026
But the meaning and power of this particular clause has long been debated and seldom invoked.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 25, 2026
New York's state constitution has its own prohibition on double jeopardy, which, if invoked here, could have a knock-on effect on Mangione's upcoming state trial.
From BBC ● Aug. 13, 2026
The DOJ invoked the presumption of regularity and argued his arrest was part of an anti-terrorism dragnet, which the judge threw out.
From Salon ● Jul. 30, 2026
We invoked it in stating that if we had 367 people gathered together, we could be certain that at least two had the same birthday.
From "Innumeracy: Mathematical Illiteracy and Its Consequences" by John Allen Paulos
The majestic costumes of Catarina Copelli, invoking a rich brocaded world on the brink of disappearance, might be the real superstar.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 11, 2026
Instead of invoking an internal decision maker, James proposes focusing directly on the interacting sensory and motor systems that generate behavior.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 25, 2026
Even more effective are those invoking the name of the world’s greatest investor.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 3, 2026
He told the panel he was invoking the Fifth Amendment to the US Constitution under the advice of his attorneys.
From BBC ● Jul. 30, 2026
If he was ordained, he would defy the edict, invoking the tenth commandment, which clearly said he was beholden to no laws beyond the ten—including any edicts levied by the Scythedom.
From "Scythe" by Neal Shusterman
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.
