What does invite mean?
Invite means to ask someone to attend an event, participate in an activity, join a group, or accept a role. It can also describe an act of hospitality: to invite someone is to offer them a place or make them feel welcome. The verb is common in everyday conversation as well as in formal announcements, professional correspondence, academic writing, and public invitations. In contexts such as design, advertising, and discussion, invite may suggest that something attracts attention, encourages participation, or makes a response more likely. The noun invite refers to the request itself and is somewhat less formal than invitation. Together, the two parts of speech express both the action of asking someone and the resulting opportunity or occasion. The word is especially useful because it can apply equally to a personal gesture, such as inviting a friend to dinner, and an institutional act, such as inviting applications or inviting experts to contribute to a discussion.
To ask someone to attend an event, join an activity, or accept a role; also to offer participation or make someone feel welcome.
"The director invited me to present the research at the conference."
The construction 'invite someone to do something' is especially common. Invitation is generally more formal than the verb invite.
A written or spoken request to attend an event, join an activity, or accept a role.
"We received an invitation to the ceremony."
The noun is often replaced by the informal form invite in casual or digital communication.
Use the plural when referring to more than one invitation, as in a list of invited guests or formal invitations sent to different people.
"The couple sent invitations to all their friends and family."
Invite comes from Latin invitare, built from in- ('into') and vocare ('to call'): an invitation was originally a summons.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of invite
English invite comes from Old French inviter, which was borrowed from Latin invitare, meaning 'to call, summon, or invite.' The Latin verb was formed from in- and vocare, 'to call.' Related cognates include French inviter, Spanish invitar, and Italian invitare, while English later developed forms such as invitation, inviter, and invitee.
Related word forms
How invite is actually used
Invite is used in both formal and informal contexts. The noun invitation is especially common in formal correspondence and announcements, while the noun invite is informal and is frequent in digital and social settings. There is no significant difference between standard British and American usage.
Easily confused with invite
To invite is to ask or welcome someone, whereas to incite is to provoke or encourage someone to act, often in a disruptive or controversial way.