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evoke or invoke?
Don’t feel bad if you have difficulty remembering the difference between evoke and invoke, as the words are quite similar in many ways and have considerable overlap in meaning. However, the words do differ, and you would not want to substitute one for the other. Invoke is used of putting into effect or calling upon such things as laws, authority, or privilege (“the principal invoked a rule forbidding students from asking questions”). Evoke is primarily used in the sense “to call forth or up” and is often found in connection with such things as memories, emotions, or sympathy.
Examples of evoke in a Sentence
Novena Riojas, Forbes.com, 10 June 2025
Her female figures were large in their art-historical scope as well as in their scale, evoking not just the classical tradition but also canonical modernist works by Pablo Picasso and Willem de Kooning.
—Rebecca Mead, New Yorker, 9 June 2025
The piece features a blue-hued woman whose irregular features (bold neon lips, perky colorful nipples) are intentionally meant to evoke a certain famed artist.
—Manuel Betancourt, Los Angeles Times, 9 June 2025
Fluid transitions and morphing landscapes evoke an emotional liminality, capturing the essence of growing up and moving on.
—Jamie Lang, Variety, 9 June 2025
See All Example Sentences for evoke
Cite this Entry
“Evoke.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/evoke. Accessed 14 Jun. 2025.
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