invest

verb (1)

in·vest | \ in-ˈvest

invested; investing; invests

Definition of invest

(Entry 1 of 2)

transitive verb

1 : to commit (money) in order to earn a financial return

2 : to make use of for future benefits or advantages invested her time wisely

3 : to involve or engage especially emotionally were deeply invested in their children's lives

intransitive verb

: to make an investment

invest

verb (2)

invested; investing; invests

Definition of invest (Entry 2 of 2)

transitive verb

1 [ Medieval Latin investire, from Latin, to clothe ]

a : to array in the symbols of office or honor

b : to furnish with power or authority

c : to grant someone control or authority over : vest

2 : to endow with a quality : infuse

3 : to cover completely : envelop

4 : clothe, adorn

5 [ Middle French investir, from Old Italian investire, from Latin, to surround ] : to surround with troops or ships so as to prevent escape or entry

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Examples of invest in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web: Verb

Macquarie has extensive holdings in the U.S., with more than $12 billion invested in more than 30 separate transactions over the past 15 years. — Costas Paris, WSJ, "Macquarie Gets a Foothold in U.S.-Asia Ocean Trade," 5 May 2019 But giving our energy and investing emotions in others is a lot of work, and often times, manipulations can lure us into situations that do not serve our highest purpose. — Teen Vogue, "This Week's Horoscopes: April 28 to May 4," 29 Apr. 2019 Staying healthy isn’t just about working out and investing in self care. — Jessica Booth, Redbook, "Everything You Need To Know About Food Deserts," 29 Apr. 2019 Disrupt-Her isn’t billed as a memoir, and much of it focuses on universal topics like the importance of investing one’s money, cultivating a partner’s best qualities, and decluttering one’s home. — Eliza Brooke, Glamour, "Is the World Ready for Miki Agrawal and Her Next Big Idea?," 4 Apr. 2019 One name that has come up in conversations: The Qataris, a geopolitical adversary of the Saudis, and who are trying to quickly invest $35 billion into the U.S. through their own sovereign wealth fund. — Theodore Schleifer, Recode, "Why Silicon Valley investors just can’t quit Saudi money," 25 Oct. 2018 That means more than a third of China’s population is now invested in the fund, whose assets under management totaled 1.13 trillion yuan ($168.26 billion) at the end... — Stella Yifan Xie, WSJ, "More Than a Third of China Is Now Invested in One Giant Mutual Fund," 27 Mar. 2019 The new owner, a film and television writer from San Francisco, recently bought the house a few months earlier for $3.9 million and has the intent to invest through renting, starting at a price of $30,000 a month. — Elizabeth Gulino, House Beautiful, "You Can Rent Paris Hilton's Former Party Pad for a Cool $30,000 a Month," 21 Mar. 2019 A few years ago, your only real option for a killer Halloween makeup palette was to invest in some professional theatre-level makeup or go for the cheap options at the Halloween store. — Ramona Emerson, Allure, "How to Remove Your Halloween Makeup and Face Paint Without Wrecking Your Skin," 15 Oct. 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'invest.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

History and Etymology for invest

Verb (1)

Italian investire to clothe, invest money, from Latin, to clothe

Verb (2)

Latin investire to clothe, surround, from in- + vestis garment — more at wear

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Dictionary Entries near invest

invert soap

invert sugar

in (very) bad/poor taste

Statistics for invest

Last Updated

26 Apr 2019

Look-up Popularity

Time Traveler for invest

The first known use of invest was circa 1534

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More Definitions for invest

invest

verb

Financial Definition of invest

What It Is

Investing is the strategic purchase or sale of assets in order to produce income or capital gains.

How It Works

Investing can involve the purchase or sale of stocks, bonds, mutual funds, interest-bearing accounts, land, derivatives, real estate, artwork, old comic books, jewelry or anything else an investor believes will produce income (usually in the form of interest or rents) or become worth more.

Why It Matters

The safety of the principal is of concern in any investing activity, although some investors are more risk tolerant than others and are thus more willing to lose some of their principal in return for the chance of generating a higher profit. The investor's ability to tolerate risk and the incremental return associated with increasing amounts of risk are two primary factors that distinguish types of investing and help determine appropriate investments for a given investor.

Source: Investing Answers

invest

verb

in·vest | \ in-ˈvest

invested; investing

Kids Definition of invest

(Entry 1 of 2)

: to give power or authority to

invest

verb

invested; investing

Kids Definition of invest (Entry 2 of 2)

1 : to put out money in order to gain profit She invested in a business.

2 : to put out (as effort) in support of a usually worthy cause We invested time in the project.

invest

transitive verb

in·vest | \ in-ˈvest

Medical Definition of invest

1 : to envelop or cover completely the pleura invests the lung

2 : to endow with a quality or characteristic the paranoid personality who invests the external world with his…ideas and feelings — Structure & Meaning of Psychoanalysis