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invoke

/ɪnˈvoʊk//ɪnˈvəʊk/·verb
to call on a law, authority, or idea for support; to summon
Fig. 1 — A small lamp sits quietly on the ground, no more than a battered little vessel.
01Definition

To invoke something is to call it up deliberately and put it to use. A lawyer invokes a clause; a writer invokes a famous name to lend weight; a leader invokes national pride to rally a crowd. In its older, almost magical sense, to invoke is to summon — to call a power or presence into being by naming it. Across both senses the idea is the same: you reach for something larger than yourself and bring it forward to act on your behalf.

02In use
  • iThe defence tried to invoke an obscure clause in order to refute the charge.
  • iiPoliticians often invoke a prevalent fear in order to justify sweeping new powers.
  • iiiThe poem invokes the sea like an incantation, a witness to everything the speaker cannot say.
03Collocations
  • invoke a law
  • invoke the right to
  • invoke authority
  • invoke an image of
  • invoke the name of

Family invocation (noun)

04Relations

=cite, appeal to, call upon, summon, conjure

≠waive, revoke

06TOEFL & IELTS

Mostly academic and legal. 'Invoke a rule/right/principle' means to cite it as the basis for an action — common in TOEFL law and history passages. Distinguish it from 'evoke' (to call up a feeling or memory): you invoke a statute, but a smell evokes a memory. The noun is invocation.

07Asked
What is the difference between invoke and evoke?
You invoke something on purpose, to use it — you call it up and put it to work (invoke a law, invoke authority). You evoke something without trying — it comes to mind on its own (a smell evokes a memory, a painting evokes sadness). Invoke summons deliberately; evoke stirs up feeling or recollection. A lawyer invokes a statute; a song evokes the past.
What does it mean to 'invoke a law' or 'invoke a right'?
To formally call on it as the basis for what you do — 'she invoked her right to remain silent', 'the government invoked emergency powers'. You cite the rule or right and act on its authority. It is the word's main legal and political sense: reaching for an established principle and bringing it forward to justify or enable an action.
What does 'invoke' mean in programming?
To call a function, method, or command so that it runs — 'invoke the method', 'the program invokes a routine'. In computing, invoke and call are near-synonyms: both trigger a named piece of code to execute. The word keeps its core sense of naming something to bring it into action, here a block of code rather than a law or a spirit.
What does it mean to 'invoke a spirit or deity'?
To summon it by calling on its name — the word's older, near-magical sense: a prayer invokes a god, a ritual invokes the spirits. The scene above is this meaning at full stretch — a lamp called on by name, and a towering figure rising from it, summoned into presence. To invoke, here, is to call a power into being.
What is the noun form of invoke?
Invocation — the act of invoking, or the words used to do it. It covers the formal ('the invocation of emergency powers') and the ceremonial (an invocation is the opening prayer at an event). The word carries the same reach as the verb: naming something larger than yourself and calling it forward to act.
What is the difference between invoke and cite?
They overlap, but invoke is stronger and more active. To cite something is to mention or quote it as a reference. To invoke it is to call on its authority and act on it — you cite a precedent to inform, but invoke it to justify a decision. Citing points to a source; invoking puts it to work on your behalf.