invoke

Etymology

Definitions

1. 1

   To call upon (a person, a god) for help, assistance or guidance.

2. 2

   To solicit, petition for, appeal to a favorable attitude.

   • The envoy invoked the King of Kings's magnanimity to reduce his province's tribute after another drought.
   • Whatever the pressures that have invoked the Minister's diktat, the outcome is Gilbertian.
3. 3

   To call another ship.

4. ›+ 5 more definitionsshow fewer

   1. 4

      To call to mind (something) for some purpose.

      • After marriage, the man had anciently (but this was anterior to Christianity) the power of life and death over his wife. She could invoke no law against him; he was her sole tribunal and law.
      • It is easier to invoke or to deplore democracy than to say exactly what it is.
   2. 5

      To appeal for validation to a (notably cited) authority.

      • In certain Christian circles, invoking the Bible constitutes irrefutable proof.
      • He invoked cadaveric poisoning as the reason for the high death rate among priests and monks […]
   3. 6

      To conjure up with incantations.

      • This satanist ritual invokes Beelzebub.
   4. 7

      To bring about as an inevitable consequence.

      • Blasphemy is taboo as it may invoke divine wrath.
   5. 8

      To cause (a program or subroutine) to execute.

      • Interactive programs let the users enter choices and invoke the corresponding routines.
      • […]the selling price and cost of a particular item are derived by the system through a table lookup and assigned to the item at invoking time.
      • C++ lets you invoke an operator function either by calling the function or by using the overloaded operator with its usual syntax.

The neighborhood

• neighborevoke
• neighborinvocate
• neighborinvocation
• neighborinvocational
• neighborinvocatory