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⚔️ To attack and enter 🐛 To spread into 🚪 To intrude
to invade

to invade

77 3.7
To enter and spread through a place or body causing harm
  • verb
  • /ɪnˈveɪd/
  • Specialized
translation icon : invadir
  • The human body can be invaded by the influenza virus via the nose or mouth.
  • invading species
  • invade habitats
  • invade natural habitats

It's about the terrain that the pathogen is invading.

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Examples

  • Interestingly, more European species initially invaded the Americas than American species invaded Europe.

    Academic text (1992)

  • How long before others learn of my awakening and invade this quiet little planet of yours?

    PG: Psycho Goreman (2020)

  • But a dark magic invaded the land.

    Mirror Mirror (2012)

  • Toward the end of August, parents and brothers and sisters invaded the camp in large numbers.

    Fiction book (1993)

  • The sickness invaded our town, ravaged our community.

    Abraham Lincoln vs. Zombies (2012)

  • When cancer metastasizes, diseased cells travel through the body and invade healthy organs.

    Academic text (2008)

  • Baboons lurked nearby, watching for a chance to invade when we left on game drives.

    Academic text (1994)

  • In addition, electron microscopy shows that the mycoplasma can invade and attach to various human and animal cells.

    Academic text (1991)

  • For example, Pinchuk discovered that a cold-weather Arctic amphipod has invaded the Bering Sea during the last three years.

    Academic text (2011)

  • The sickness invaded our town, ravaging our community.

Synonyms

to infect
vsto invade
466 2.6

Make people or animals sick by spreading germs

refers to entering and spreading in places or organisms rather than only causing illness
to infest
vsto invade
85 4.4

To be full of insects or small animals that cause harm

applies to many kinds of organisms not only insects or parasites
to overrun
vsto invade
38 4.8

Fill a place in large numbers and damage things

enters and spreads inside places or organisms often causing harm

Antonyms

to recede
29 4.8

To move back or become less strong

How Invasive

to overrun
38 4.8
to invade
  • Specialized
77 3.7
to colonize
46 6.3
to establish
411 4.1
to appear
873 1.0

Surface Forms

invade infinitive
invaded past
invaded past participle
invading present participle
invades third person singular

Morphology

invade = in + vade

Although historically analyzable as in- + vade, 'vade' is not a standalone English word and the prefix sense ('in/into') is not transparently productive for average learners, so the meaning cannot be reliably derived from the parts.

Etymology

Invade comes from the Latin parts in- 'into' and vadere 'to go'. A helpful image is insects or germs 'going into' a garden or body in large numbers — that is why invade can mean to enter, spread, and often cause harm.