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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
Helen Regan, CNN Money, 18 May 2026
Elsewhere, the female duo invokes some breaking of the fourth wall for good measure, just as the film, at points, entertains conspiratorial views regarding 9/11, perhaps to dispel the idea that this work is solely an exercise in verisimilitude.
—Lé Baltar, IndieWire, 17 May 2026
In the show, the hands-off rule is invoked, but not by Garrett.
—Jennifer McClellan, USA Today, 17 May 2026
This is largely why the most powerful companies today reflexively invoke the First Amendment to shield their products from legal scrutiny.
—Olivier Sylvain, Fortune, 16 May 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 20 May. 2026.
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invoke
transitive verb
