Library / English Dictionary

INVOKE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Request earnestly (something from somebody); ask for aid or protection

Example:

Invoke God in times of trouble

Synonyms:

appeal; invoke

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

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

ask for; bespeak; call for; quest; request (express the need or desire for)

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

plead (appeal or request earnestly)

call on; turn (have recourse to or make an appeal or request for help or information to)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s to somebody

Derivation:

invocation (the act of appealing for help)

invocation (a prayer asking God's help as part of a religious service)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Cite as an authority; resort to

Example:

She invoked an ancient law

Synonyms:

appeal; invoke

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

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

advert; bring up; cite; mention; name; refer (make reference to)

Sentence frames:

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

Sense 3

Meaning:

Summon into action or bring into existence, often as if by magic

Example:

call down the spirits from the mountain

Synonyms:

arouse; bring up; call down; call forth; conjure; conjure up; evoke; invoke; put forward; raise; stir

Classified under:

Verbs of sewing, baking, painting, performing

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

call up; summon (cause to become available for use, either literally or figuratively)

Verb group:

call forth; evoke; kick up; provoke (evoke or provoke to appear or occur)

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

anathemise; anathemize; bedamn; beshrew; curse; damn; imprecate; maledict (wish harm upon; invoke evil upon)

bless (give a benediction to)

Sentence frames:

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

Derivation:

invocation (calling up a spirit or devil)

invocation (an incantation used in conjuring or summoning a devil)

Credits

 Context examples: 

There are the names, in the sweet old visionary connexion, David Copperfield and Dora Spenlow; and there, in the corner, is that Parental Institution, the Stamp Office, which is so benignantly interested in the various transactions of human life, looking down upon our Union; and there is the Archbishop of Canterbury invoking a blessing on us in print, and doing it as cheap as could possibly be expected.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)