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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 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
Rafael Olmeda, Sun Sentinel, 11 Feb. 2026
Lawmakers already invoked the procedural last year, using it to block the forcing of a vote in March 2025 on the legitimacy of the national emergency the president invoked in order to levy duties on China, Canada and Mexico.
—Kate Nishimura, Sourcing Journal, 11 Feb. 2026
The sorting of documents came as Epstein’s former girlfriend, Ghislaine Maxwell, invoked her Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination while testifying virtually before the House Oversight Committee.
—Lauren Green, The Washington Examiner, 10 Feb. 2026
And both invoke their consumption habits to score points against the other side.
—Annie Levin, Washington Post, 10 Feb. 2026
See All Example Sentences for invoke
Cite this Entry
“Invoke.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/invoke. Accessed 14 Feb. 2026.
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invoke
transitive verb
