Library / English Dictionary

INVADE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

March aggressively into another's territory by military force for the purposes of conquest and occupation

Example:

Hitler invaded Poland on September 1, 1939

Synonyms:

invade; occupy

Classified under:

Verbs of fighting, athletic activities

Hypernyms (to "invade" is one way to...):

assail; attack (launch an attack or assault on; begin hostilities or start warfare with)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "invade"):

infest; overrun (invade in great numbers)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Derivation:

invader (someone who enters by force in order to conquer)

invasion (the act of invading; the act of an army that invades for conquest or plunder)

invasive (involving invasion or aggressive attack)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Penetrate or assault, in a harmful or injurious way

Example:

The cancer had invaded her lungs

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Hypernyms (to "invade" is one way to...):

interpenetrate; permeate (penetrate mutually or be interlocked)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s something

Derivation:

invasion ((pathology) the spread of pathogenic microorganisms or malignant cells to new sites in the body)

invasive (marked by a tendency to spread especially into healthy tissue)

Sense 3

Meaning:

To intrude upon, infringe, encroach on, violate

Example:

The neighbors intrude on your privacy

Synonyms:

encroach upon; intrude on; invade; obtrude upon

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Hypernyms (to "invade" is one way to...):

come in; enter; get in; get into; go in; go into; move into (to come or go into)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "invade"):

foray into; raid (enter someone else's territory and take spoils)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

invader (someone who enters by force in order to conquer)

invasion (any entry into an area not previously occupied)

invasive (gradually intrusive without right or permission)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Occupy in large numbers or live on a host

Example:

the Kudzu plant infests much of the South and is spreading to the North

Synonyms:

infest; invade; overrun

Classified under:

Verbs of being, having, spatial relations

Hypernyms (to "invade" is one way to...):

inhabit (be present in)

Sentence frames:

Something is ----ing PP
Something ----s something

Derivation:

invasion (any entry into an area not previously occupied)

Credits

 Context examples: 

Cells from malignant tumors can invade nearby tissues.

(Cancer, NIH: National Cancer Institute)

A condition in which cancer cells spread from the original (primary) tumor and invade lymph vessels (thin tubes that carry lymph and white blood cells through the body’s lymph system).

(Carcinomatous lymphangitis, NCI Dictionary)

DNA synthesis initiates from the 3' end of the invading DNA strand, using the intact chromosome as the template, and progresses to the end of the chromosome.

(Break-Induced Replication, NCI Thesaurus)

Papillary carcinoma has a tendency to recur locally, but rarely invades and metastasizes.

(Bladder Cancer Pathway, NCI Thesaurus/KEGG)

Autonomous new growth of well-differentiated mammary epithelium that has limited growth potential does not metastasize or invade surrounding structures and has normal cytology.

(Benign Neoplasms of the Mouse Mammary Gland, NCI Thesaurus/MMHCC)

They cannot spread or invade other parts of your body.

(Benign Tumors, NIH: National Cancer Institute)

Inflammation is the body’s natural response to invading bacteria or viruses.

(Researchers discover otulipenia, a new inflammatory disease, NIH)

A morphologic finding indicating that the cutaneous melanoma has invaded the subcutaneous tissue.

(Clark Level V, NCI Thesaurus)

An ability to invade and live in neural tissue.

(Neurotropism, NCI Dictionary)

So he came to London to invade a new land.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)