Definition

1. Adjective:
   • Conveying or serving as an invitation; having the nature of an invitation. It describes something, typically a piece of writing, a gesture, or a tone, that invites or summons someone to participate or attend.

Usage and Examples

• Adjective:
  • The host sent an invitatory message to all potential guests.
  • Her smile was warm and invitatory, encouraging us to enter.
  • The poem's opening lines have an invitatory quality, drawing the reader into its world.

Advanced Usage

• Liturgical Context: In Christian liturgy, particularly in the Divine Office, "Invitatory" (capitalized) is a specific noun referring to a psalm, usually Psalm 95, or an antiphon used to introduce the service and call the faithful to worship.
  • The monks chanted the Invitatory at the start of Matins.

Variants and Related Words

• Invite (verb): To ask someone to go somewhere or do something.
• Invitation (noun): A spoken or written request to be present or participate.
• Invitatorial (adjective): A rare, more formal synonym for .

Synonyms

• Summoning
• Alluring
• Encouraging
• Beckoning

Antonyms

• Dismissive
• Prohibitive
• Repellent
• Forbidding

Notes

• The word is formal and not commonly used in everyday conversation. It is more frequently encountered in literary, liturgical, or formal descriptive contexts.

Adjective

1. conveying an invitation
   • a brief invitatory note