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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
Andres Viglucci, Miami Herald, 18 July 2025
The United States accused many of the migrants sent to El Salvador of being members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua, and deported them under the Alien Enemies Act, which had not been invoked since World War II.
—Manuel Rueda, NPR, 18 July 2025
If that's so, invoke that privilege, not a right against self-incrimination.
—Mandy Taheri
gabe Whisnant, MSNBC Newsweek, 18 July 2025
Earlier this week, Anthony Bernal, who served as assistant to the president and chief of staff to the first lady in the Biden administration, also invoked the Fifth Amendment in his deposition.
—John Parkinson, ABC News, 18 July 2025
See All Example Sentences for invoke
Cite this Entry
“Invoke.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/invoke. Accessed 23 Jul. 2025.
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invoke
transitive verb
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