invite
verb · noun
Simple meaning
To ask someone to come to an event or place.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
ihnvytSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ɪnˈvaɪt
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
Ask someone in a friendly way to do something
transitive
To ask for the presence or participation of someone or something.
Request the participation or presence of
“The organizers invite submissions of papers for the conference.”
Ask to enter
“We invited the neighbors in for a cup of coffee.”
transitive
To request formally.
transitive
To allure; to draw to; to tempt to come; to induce by pleasure or hope; to attract.
noun
informal
A colloquial expression for invitation
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- B1 · Intermediate
- Frequency
- Common
- Typical Use
- Everyday English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: Ask someone in a friendly way to do something
Used this way, invite 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.
More ways to use invite
- “Can I invite you for dinner on Sunday night?”verb
- “We invited the neighbors in for a cup of coffee.”verb
- “The organizers invite submissions of papers for the conference.”verb
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
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Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Inflected forms
Grammatical variations of the same word.
Attractive and tempting.
Word family
Words built from the same root.
A request (spoken or written) to participate or be present or take part in something.
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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.