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Glite Dictionary
🙏 A prayer request 🧙 Calling a spirit 💻 Calling a function
invocation

invocation

9 7.4
A short prayer asking for help or blessing at the start of a service
  • noun
  • /ˌɪnvəˈkeɪʃən/
  • Formal
translation icon : invocación
  • Please join me in the invocation, a prayer of the Ojibwe nation.
  • invocations and benedictions
  • invocations and prayers
  • graduation invocation

There's more to the story as we see in this final invocation to Christ.

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Examples

  • The pastor began the service with an invocation asking for guidance.

  • Please stand for the invocation.

    An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power (2017)

  • Reverend, would you lead us in the invocation?

    Children of the Corn II: The Final Sacrifice (1992)

  • Please join me now in the invocation, a prayer of the Ojibwe Nation.

  • During these invocations, as each brief passage is said, a candle is lit for that direction.

    Fiction book (1993)

  • Most constitutions, including the U.S. Constitution, begin with an invocation of God, providence, or Allah.

    Academic text (1996)

  • The practice of including nonsectarian invocations in public school graduation ceremonies was held to be constitutional.

    Academic text (1991)

  • I arise today, through a mighty strength, the invocation of the Trinity, Through a belief in the Threeness, Through confession of the Oneness, Of the Creator of creation.

    The Curse of La Llorona (2019)

  • Please stand for the invocation at the beginning of the ceremony.

  • We all bowed our heads during the invocation to seek divine presence.

Synonyms

prayer
vsinvocation
530 1.0

Talking to God to ask for help or give thanks

is specifically a request for help guidance or presence often at services
blessing
vsinvocation
79 1.8

A short prayer asking God or a higher power for help

is used at the start of services or in times of need for help
supplication
vsinvocation
  • Formal
8 8.7

A humble request for help from someone in power or from God

is less focused on humble earnestness and more formal or ceremonial

How Religious

supplication
  • Formal
8 8.7
invocation
  • Formal
9 7.4
prayer
530 1.0
petition
  • Formal
216 4.1

Surface Forms

invocation singular
invoations plural
invocations plural

Morphology

invocation = invoke (transparent) = invoke + ation

Derived straightforwardly from 'invoke' + '-ation' to mean a prayer or calling upon a higher power.

Etymology

The word invocation comes from Latin in- ('on' or 'into') and vocare ('to call'), so it means 'calling on' help or presence. That's why an invocation is often a short prayer asking God or a higher power to be with you.