Synonyms

invoke

American

[in-vohk] / ɪnˈvoʊk /

verb (used with object)

to call for with earnest desire; make supplication or pray for.

to invoke God's mercy.
to call on (a deity, Muse, etc.), as in prayer or supplication.
to declare to be binding or in effect.

to invoke the law;
to invoke a veto.
to appeal to, as for confirmation.
to petition or call on for help or aid.
to call forth or upon (a spirit) by incantation.
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.
to cause, call forth, or bring about.

invoke British

/ ɪnˈvəʊk /

verb

to call upon (an agent, esp God or another deity) for help, inspiration, etc
to put (a law, penalty, etc) into use

the union invoked the dispute procedure
to appeal to (an outside agent or authority) for confirmation, corroboration, etc
to implore or beg (help, etc)
to summon (a spirit, demon, etc); conjure up

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

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

Past

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.

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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:

invoke invokes invoked invoking

Their calculations suggest that cosmic acceleration could emerge naturally from Einstein's equations, potentially eliminating the need to invoke mysterious dark energy.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 29, 2026

The values they invoke to denounce the West—democracy, equality, human rights—are very much part of that tradition.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 16, 2026

On Saturday at UFC 332 in Salt Lake City, Cong will be hoping she can invoke the same emotions in Brazilian Natalia Silva, when the pair fight for the vacant flyweight world title.

From BBC ● Oct. 3, 2026

“Renting forever doesn’t invoke a lot of confidence in our future finances,” Mortensen said.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 16, 2026

And really, after a day or two of confusion worse confounded, it was delightful by degrees to invoke order from the chaos ourselves had made.

From "Jane Eyre" by Charlotte Brontë

That, of course, includes the very Hindus whose beliefs Ramaswamy so frequently invokes.

From Slate ● Oct. 23, 2026

Democrat Xavier Becerra, the frontrunner to become the state’s next governor, often invokes the story of his parents’ humble beginnings as immigrants from Mexico who, through hard work, built happy and productive lives in California.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 6, 2026

The self-described "anarcho-capitalist" invokes the "creative destruction" theory of US-Austrian economist Joseph Schumpeter to describe how old industries inevitably fold in the face of innovation.

From Barron's ● Sep. 10, 2026

FlightAware has claimed Kalshi continues to solicit bets using its data and repeatedly invokes the FlightAware mark, which is why it is seeking a temporary restraining order and permanent injunction.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 11, 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

“The statistical findings in the studies invoked by petitioners are extraordinarily disturbing,” Bonta wrote in his reply to the order in August.

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 5, 2026

He invoked religious themes that have grown familiar to his campaign, comparing his unlikely odds to the biblical story of David and Goliath.

From BBC ● Nov. 4, 2026

She says she has faced a coordinated smear campaign against her, which has at times invoked her son's death and accusations that she is betraying his memory.

From Barron's ● Oct. 24, 2026

Shortly before the plant was scheduled to close, the DOE invoked a rarely used Federal Power Act provision for electricity emergencies to keep it running.

From Slate ● Sep. 25, 2026

These two principles—holism and underdetermination—are what is being invoked when appeal is made to the Duhem-Quine thesis.

From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton

He framed his confrontation with Tshisekedi as a fight against authoritarianism, invoking Section 64 of the constitution, which calls on citizens to resist anyone who seizes power or exercises it in violation of constitutional provisions.

From BBC ● Oct. 31, 2026

The researchers argue that this instability may offer a natural route to accelerated cosmic expansion without adding a cosmological constant or invoking dark energy.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 29, 2026

Both stressed the importance of dialogue, with Xi invoking the concept of the Thucydides trap, a historical paradigm that holds that rising powers inevitably clash with established ones.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 25, 2026

But invoking it when it is plainly pretextual does.

From Slate ● Sep. 25, 2026

All the way through I had expected my parents to stop her, invoking, if nothing else, the nearness of the neighbors.

From "Jacob Have I Loved" by Katherine Paterson

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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023