invite

English

Etymology 1

From Middle French inviter, from Latin invītō. Displaced native Old English laþian.

Pronunciation

• enPR: ĭnvīt', IPA^(key): /ɪnˈvaɪt/

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aɪt

Verb

invite (third-person singular simple present invites, present participle inviting, simple past and past participle invited)

1. (transitive) To ask for the presence or participation of someone or something.

   Synonym: ask out

   We invited our friends round for dinner.

2. (transitive) To request formally.

   Synonyms: ask, beseech, entreat, request

   I invite you all to be seated.

3. (transitive) To encourage.

   Synonyms: ask for, encourage, provoke

   I always invite criticism of my definitions.

   Wearing that skimpy dress, you are bound to invite attention.

   • 1902, Theodore Roosevelt, Theodore Roosevelt's Second State of the Union Address:

     The refusal to maintain such a navy would invite trouble, and if trouble came would insure disaster.

4. (transitive) To allure; to draw to; to tempt to come; to induce by pleasure or hope; to attract.
   • 1634 October 9 (first performance), [John Milton], edited by H[enry] Lawes, A Maske Presented at Ludlow Castle, 1634: , London: [Augustine Matthews] for Hvmphrey Robinson, , published 1637, →OCLC; reprinted as Comus:  (Dodd, Mead & Company’s Facsimile Reprints of Rare Books; Literature Series; no. I), New York, N.Y.: Dodd, Mead & Company, 1903, →OCLC:

     to inveigle and invite th' unwary sense

   • 1697, Virgil, “The Second Book of the Georgics”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. , London: Jacob Tonson, , →OCLC:

     shady groves, that easy sleep invite

   • 1782, William Cowper, The Progress of Error:

     There no delusive hope invites despair.

Synonyms

• lathe

Derived terms

• e-invite

Related terms

• invitee
• inviter

Translations

Etymology 2

From the verb invite.

Pronunciation

• enPR: ĭn'vīt, IPA^(key): /ˈɪnvaɪt/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Noun

invite (plural invites)

1. (informal) An invitation.
   • 2022 June 29, Paul Stephen, “Network News: Strikes set to escalate as RMT issues rallying call”, in RAIL, number 960, page 6:

     An open invite has been given to all UK workers to join in common cause with the union, as more than 40,000 RMT members at Network Rail and 13 train operating companies walked out on June 21 in the first of three 24-hour strikes over pay, conditions and job security.

Translations

Asturian

Verb

invite

1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive of invitar

French

Pronunciation

• Audio

  (file)

Verb

invite

1. inflection of inviter:
   1. first/third-person singular present indicative/subjunctive
   2. second-person singular imperative

Latin

Adjective

invīte

1. vocative masculine singular of invītus

References

• “invite”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “invite”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• invite in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.

Romanian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key):

Verb

invite

1. third-person singular/plural present subjunctive of invita

Spanish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /imˈbite/
• Rhymes: -ite
• Syllabification: in‧vi‧te

Etymology 1

Deverbal from invitar.

Noun

invite m (plural invites)

1. (Mexico) invite, invitation

Etymology 2

Verb

invite

1. inflection of invitar:
   1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
   2. third-person singular imperative

Further reading

• “invite”, in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014