Invading

How to spell invading

8 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce invading

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does invading mean?

1. verbEntering a place, territory, or space forcibly and without invitation.

Invading in a sentence

• The general feared the army was invading from the north.

• Weeds were invading every corner of the neglected garden.

Where does invading come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word descends from the Latin verb invadere, which literally meant 'to go into' or 'to enter forcibly', built from the prefix in- meaning 'into' or 'upon' and the verb vadere meaning 'to go' or 'to advance'. In Latin the sense quickly took on the hostile flavour of rushing in against an enemy, and that warlike meaning travelled into English through French during the late 1400s. The same vadere root that means 'to go' also gave English the words 'evade' (to go out of, to escape) and 'pervade' (to go through), so the family shares a single idea of movement. The modern spelling keeps the single 'd' of the Latin stem, which matters because the participle simply adds -ing to 'invade' after dropping the silent final 'e'. Today the word still carries both its literal military sense and a softer figurative one of something spreading where it is unwelcome.

How the word is built

• in- (into, upon)
• vad (go, from Latin vadere)
• -ing (present participle)