INVOCATION

Pronunciation (US):

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IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does invocation mean? 

• INVOCATION (noun)
  The noun INVOCATION has 4 senses:

1. a prayer asking God's help as part of a religious service

2. an incantation used in conjuring or summoning a devil

3. calling up a spirit or devil

4. the act of appealing for help

  Familiarity information: INVOCATION used as a noun is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• INVOCATION (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A prayer asking God's help as part of a religious service

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Synonyms:

invocation; supplication

Hypernyms ("invocation" is a kind of...):

orison; petition; prayer (reverent petition to a deity)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "invocation"):

rogation (a solemn supplication ceremony prescribed by the church)

Holonyms ("invocation" is a part of...):

divine service; religious service; service (the act of public worship following prescribed rules)

Derivation:

invoke (request earnestly (something from somebody); ask for aid or protection)

Sense 2

Meaning:

An incantation used in conjuring or summoning a devil

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Hypernyms ("invocation" is a kind of...):

conjuration; incantation (a ritual recitation of words or sounds believed to have a magical effect)

Derivation:

invoke (summon into action or bring into existence, often as if by magic)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Calling up a spirit or devil

Classified under:

Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents

Synonyms:

conjuration; conjuring; conjury; invocation

Hypernyms ("invocation" is a kind of...):

magic; thaumaturgy (any art that invokes supernatural powers)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "invocation"):

evocation; summoning (calling up supposed supernatural forces by spells and incantations)

Derivation:

invoke (summon into action or bring into existence, often as if by magic)

Sense 4

Meaning:

The act of appealing for help

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Hypernyms ("invocation" is a kind of...):

effectuation; implementation (the act of implementing (providing a practical means for accomplishing something); carrying into effect)

Derivation:

invoke (request earnestly (something from somebody); ask for aid or protection)

 Context examples 

This was an invocation to Steerforth to place himself under her hands; who, accordingly, sat himself down, with his back to the table, and his laughing face towards me, and submitted his head to her inspection, evidently for no other purpose than our entertainment.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

Without attending to this invocation, we stood by, until he put up his pocket-handkerchief, pulled up his shirt-collar, and, to delude any person in the neighbourhood who might have been observing him, hummed a tune with his hat very much on one side.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

I now approach a period of my life, which I can never lose the remembrance of, while I remember anything: and the recollection of which has often, without my invocation, come before me like a ghost, and haunted happier times.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)