invest
verb
Simple meaning
To spend money, time, or energy on something.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
ihnvehstSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ɪnˈvɛst
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
verb
To spend money, time, or energy on something, especially for some benefit or purpose; used with in.
To commit money or capital in the hope of financial gain.
Furnish with power or authority; of kings or emperors
Provide with power and authority
To formally give (someone) some power or authority.
To ceremonially install someone in some office.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- B1 · Intermediate (estimated)
- Frequency
- Common
- Typical Use
- Everyday English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: To spend money, time, or energy on something, especially for some benefit or purpose; used with in.
Used this way, invest is a reasonably familiar word with a mildly favourable edge. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Slightly positive
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Moderate
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Positive and appreciative
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Inflected forms
Grammatical variations of the same word.
The act of investing.
Word family
Words built from the same root.
Someone who commits capital in order to gain financial returns.
The act of investing.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
The amount, expressed as a percentage, that is earned on a company's total capital calculated by dividing the total capital into earnings before interest, taxes, or dividends are paid.
Related words
Connected by subject or meaning, not by word formation.
Someone who advises others how to invest their money.
Someone who advises others how to invest their money.
A financial institution that sells shares to individuals and invests in securities issued by other companies.
A financial institution that sells shares to individuals and invests in securities issued by other companies.
Money that is invested with an expectation of profit.
A financial institution that sells shares to individuals and invests in securities issued by other companies.
Related Words
Connected to the same idea, not synonyms.
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Words can change meaning depending on context.
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.