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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.
Synonyms
Examples of invoke in a Sentence
Thomas Nagel, New Republic, 14 Jan. 2002
There are some people who commit murder as a way of invoking the death penalty. Capital punishment can sometimes, then, be equivalent to suicide.
—George Freeman Solomon, People, 17 Jan. 1977
We began poring over the typewritten recipes at the dining room table, where I foolishly invoked the name of Julia Child …
—Gael Greene, New York, 13 Sept. 1971
He invoked the memory of his predecessor.
She invoked history to prove her point.
He invoked his Fifth Amendment privileges.
The suspect invoked his right to an attorney.
invoke the authority of the court
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Kathryn Watson, CBS News, 15 Sep. 2023
Iowa has not had to invoke that final option—but Iowa’s political landscape is also far less fractious and hard-edged than its northern counterpart.
—Matt Ford, The New Republic, 14 Sep. 2023
The audience is sure to have a similar hot take on Paul Marks, who invokes Elon Musk comparisons after the two-episode premiere.
—Jackie Strause, The Hollywood Reporter, 14 Sep. 2023
Trump had sought to pause the 2019 case in order to give him time to invoke an immunity defense, his attorney argued in a hearing Tuesday.
—Aaron Katersky, ABC News, 13 Sep. 2023
These leaders play a central role in the masquerade by invoking call-and-response chants known as spellings.
—Melissa Noel, Essence, 8 Sep. 2023
But the world beyond graduation Roth invokes is one in which women are still struggling to gain access to the highest echelons of power.
—Susan Dominus, New York Times, 8 Sep. 2023
The Church of Scientology was invoked repeatedly at trial and became a key focus of defense and prosecution teams alike.
—Noah Goldberg, Los Angeles Times, 8 Sep. 2023
As with Bannon, Navarro’s best hope for an acquittal was to argue that he was barred from obeying the subpoena because Trump, after leaving office, invoked executive privilege in conversations with him.
—Paul Duggan, Washington Post, 7 Sep. 2023
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These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'invoke.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Word History
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Cite this Entry
“Invoke.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/invoke. Accessed 28 Sep. 2023.
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invoke
transitive verb
More from Merriam-Webster on invoke
Nglish: Translation of invoke for Spanish Speakers
Britannica English: Translation of invoke for Arabic Speakers
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