What does invocator mean?
Invocator is an uncommon noun meaning a person who invokes or calls upon someone or something. It is especially associated with formal religious, ceremonial, or occult language, where the invocator addresses a deity, spirit, or other power with words understood as summoning or calling that power forth. The word can also be used more generally for someone who formally appeals to another person or authority. Because invoker and summoner are more usual in contemporary English, invocator has a marked, specialized tone and appears mainly in literary, historical, religious, or occult contexts. It should not be confused with invoker, which can also mean one who invokes, but invoker is the ordinary modern derivative, whereas invocator is chiefly a formal or archaic noun. In older accounts of conjuring and spirit-raising, the term described the human practitioner who performed the invocation rather than the spirit supposedly summoned. This distinction gives invocator a useful historical flavour and makes it especially suited to descriptions of ritual practice, folklore, or ceremonial speech.
nounA person who invokes or formally calls upon someone or something, especially a deity, spirit, or other power. The term is now chiefly literary, historical, religious, or occult.
- A person who formally invokes a deity, spirit, or other power.
- A person who invokes or calls upon someone or something in a ceremonial, literary, or historical context.
"In the ceremony, the invocator called the deity by its formal name and offered the prescribed prayer."
"In the ceremony, the invocator called the deity by its formal name and offered the prescribed prayer."
"The antiquarian quoted an old description of the invocator who raised the spirit."
The regular plural is invocators, used in the same formal, ceremonial, or occult senses as the singular.
"The text describes several invocators who each performed a different stage of the ritual."
In spirit-raising tales, the invocator is the human caller—not the ghost answering the call.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Where does invocator come from?
Invocator comes from Latin invocātor, an agent noun meaning “one who calls upon or summons,” formed from invocāre, “to call upon, invoke.” Latin invocāre combines the prefix in- with vocāre, “to call,” and belongs to the same root as English vocation and voice. The English noun consequently retains the sense of a person who formally calls or summons, including spirits or other powers.
How invocator is actually used
Invocator is rare in contemporary English and has a formal, archaic, or occult tone. The more usual modern word is invoker.
Easily confused with invocator
Both words can mean a person who calls upon someone or something, but invoker is the ordinary modern term, whereas invocator is a rarer formal or archaic noun associated especially with rituals and spirit-raising.