Advertisement - Continue reading below

Definition of "invade" []

  • To enter by force in order to conquer or pillage. (verb-transitive)
  • To encroach or intrude on; violate: "The principal of the trusts could not be invaded without trustee approval” ( Barbara Goldsmith). (verb-transitive)
  • To overrun as if by invading; infest: "About 1917 the shipworm invaded the harbor of San Francisco” ( Rachel Carson). (verb-transitive)
  • To enter and permeate, especially harmfully. (verb-transitive)
  • To make an invasion: "The X-rays showed that the cancer, which had invaded deeply into the chest cavity, was retreating” ( Zach Rosen). (verb-intransitive)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Use "invade" in a sentence
  • "Having a clear strategy in place _before_ you invade is just confusing and demoralizing."
  • "I was a poor, helpless, miserable wretch; I knew, and could distinguish, nothing; but feeling pain invade me on all sides, I sat down and wept."
  • "Granted, this was part of the initial plan of having the 4th Infantry Division invade from the north (nixed by the Turkish parliament), but the same result could have been achieved (albeit, more slowly) by coming from the South and bypassing Baghdad initially."