/ English Dictionary |
INVOKE
Pronunciation (US): | (GB): |
I. (verb)
Verb forms
Present simple: I / you / we / they invoke ... he / she / it invokes
Past simple: invoked
-ing form: invoking
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)
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)