Meanings
invest1
present singular third person invests · participle present investing · participle past invested · past invested
- To spend money, time, or energy on something, especially for some benefit or purpose; used with in.
We'd like to thank all the contributors who have invested countless hours into this event.
2 more examples
The authors predicted that when believers were deeply invested in a world view that had social support, believers would maintain their beliefs even when actual events disproved their worldview.
2025 November 4, Thomas Kelly, “Debunking “When Prophecy Fails””, in Journal of the History of the Behavioral Sciences, volume 62, number 1, →DOI, →ISSN, page 1We did not spend. We invested. [CEO Jeff Housenbold: He's learning!] I invest. Yes, I invested. I invested in a city for the contestants.
2025 December 3, NY Times DealBook Summit, 29:21, in MrBeast on Cracking the Attention Economy, spoken by Jimmy Donaldson - To ceremonially install someone in some office.
- To formally give (someone) some power or authority.
I do invest you jointly with my power.
c. 1603–06, William Shakespeare, King Lear, act 1, scene 12 more examples
Madam, whatſoeuer you eſteeme Of this ſucceſſe, and loſſe vnualued, Both may inueſt you Empreſſe of the Eaſt: […]
c. 1587–1588 (date written), [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire; London: Scolar Press, 1973, →ISBN, Act I, scene iiThe Syariah Courts duly constituted under any law in a State and invested with jurisdiction over persons professing the religion of Islam […] are hereby conferred jurisdiction in respect of offences against precepts of the religion of Islam by persons professing that religion which may be prescribed under any written law […]
1965, Parliament of Malaysia, “Section 1”, in Syariah Courts (Criminal Jurisdiction) Act 1965 (1988 R. Ed.), page 5 - To formally give (power or authority).
For he saith, if there can be found such an inequality between man and man, as there is between man and beast, or between soul and body, it investeth a right of government: which seemeth rather an impossible case than an untrue sentence.
a. 1626, Francis Bacon, An Advertisement Touching a Holy War - To surround, accompany, or attend.
The scene was not without a mixture of awe such as must always invest the spectacle of the guilt and shame in a fellow-creature, before society shall have grown corrupt enough to smile, instead of shuddering, at it.
1850, Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Scarlet Letter1 more example
For the most part, in this tropic whaling life, a sublime uneventfulness invests you; you hear no news; read no gazettes; extras with startling accounts of commonplaces never delude you into unnecessary excitements; you hear of no domestic afflictions; bankrupt securities; fall of stocks; are never troubled with the thought of what you shall have for dinner—for all your meals for three years and more are snugly stowed in casks, and your bill of fare is immutable.
1851 November 14, Herman Melville, chapter 35, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC, page 171 - To lay siege to.
to invest a town
1 more example
When she related that a band of fanatics, after robbing a church of all its silver-plate, and burning the adjacent vicarage, drunk with their success, had invested the Castle, and cried aloud for ‘the man’ to be brought unto them, that he might be hewed to pieces before the Lord in Gilgal—[…]her young hearers felt a deep stirring of the heart,—a proud yet mellowed elation that never yet was felt by the reader of a written history, though its pages were as legitimate as any sanctioned by the royal licenser at Madrid.
1820, [Charles Robert Maturin], Melmoth the Wanderer: A Tale. […], volume IV, Edinburgh: […] Archibald Constable and Company, and Hurst, Robinson, and Co., […], →OCLC, page 216Synonyms: besiege
- intransitiveTo make investments.
- engineeringTo prepare for lost wax casting by creating an investment mold (a mixture of a silica sand and plaster).
- intransitiveTo cause to be involved in; to cause to form strong attachments to.
From early on in his career, Zola's work as a critic revealed just how heavily he was invested in the literary “dream of stone.”
2004, Michael D. Garval, A Dream of Stone, University of Delaware Press, →ISBN, page 2142 more examples
She knew from watching him grow up that he didn't let that many people too close to him, but once he did, he was invested in that relationship.
2014, Sarah Varland, Tundra Threat: Faith in the Face of Crime, Harlequin, →ISBN, page 107We decided that it was because he trusted the core beliefs of the Conservative Party, and he was invested in their vision of change in the NorthWest of England where he comes from.
2015, James Graham, Tory Boyz, Bloomsbury Publishing, →ISBN, page 11 - SpanishgovernmentTo inaugurate the Prime Minister of Spain after a successful parliamentary vote.
The outcome also makes it very difficult for Feijóo to become the next PM, because he does not have the support to be invested as such, unless there are changes in the initial positions of key players such as the Basque Nationalist Party (PNV).
2023 July 24, Carlos Cué, “In Spain, the left's resistance thwarts a PP-Vox majority and leaves all possibilities open”, in El País, retrieved 06 Aug 2023
invest2
plural invests
- climatologyA designated area of disturbed weather that is being monitored for potential tropical cyclone development.
Synonyms & antonyms
verbTo put on (clothing).
verbTo lay siege to.
antonym(s) of “clothe”
antonym(s) of “commit funds”
More synonyms by meaning
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
invest · verb
- Italianinvestire
- Latininvestio“to clothe, cover”
- Medieval Latininvestire
- Middle Frenchinvestir
- Englishinvest
Borrowed from Middle French investir or Medieval Latin investire, from Latin investio (“to clothe, cover”), from in- (“in, on”) + vestio (“to clothe, dress”), from vestis (“clothing”); see vest. The sense “to spend money etc.” probably via Italian investire, of the same root.
More words from Middle French, Medieval Latin, Latin
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Arabic اِسْتَثْمَرَ
- اِسْتَثْمَرَ (istaṯmara)to commit resources in the hope of financial gain
Bulgarian влагам, обличам
- влагам (vlagam)to spend money, time, and effort into something
- обличам (obličam)to envelop, wrap, cover
- обгръщам с (obgrăštam s)to envelop, wrap, cover
- инвестирам (investiram)to commit resources in the hope of financial gain
- обсаждам (obsaždam)to lay siege to
- инвестирам (investiram)to make investments
Catalan invertir, invertir
- invertirto spend money, time, and effort into something
- invertirto commit resources in the hope of financial gain
- investirto ceremonially install into office
- invertirto make investments
- investirto formally give power
Chinese Mandarin 耗費 /耗费, 投資 /投资
- 耗費 /耗费 (hàofèi)to spend money, time, and effort into something
- 投資 /投资 (tóuzī)to spend money, time, and effort into something
- 投入 (tóurù)to spend money, time, and effort into something
- 投資 /投资 (tóuzī)to commit resources in the hope of financial gain
- 投 (tóu)to commit resources in the hope of financial gain
Czech investovat
- investovatto commit resources in the hope of financial gain
Danish investere
- investereto commit resources in the hope of financial gain
Dutch beleggen
- beleggento commit resources in the hope of financial gain
Esperanto investi, investi
- investito spend money, time, and effort into something
- investito commit resources in the hope of financial gain
Finnish panostaa, käyttää
- panostaato spend money, time, and effort into something
- käyttääto spend money, time, and effort into something
- satsatato spend money, time, and effort into something
- peittääto envelop, wrap, cover
- peitelläto envelop, wrap, cover
- sijoittaato commit resources in the hope of financial gain
- investoidato commit resources in the hope of financial gain
- nimittääto ceremonially install into office
- piirittääto lay siege to
- investoidato make investments
- kaavatato create an investment mold
- valtuuttaato formally give power
French investir, consacrer
- investirto spend money, time, and effort into something
- consacrerto spend money, time, and effort into something
- investirto commit resources in the hope of financial gain
- investirto ceremonially install into office
- investirto lay siege to
- investirto make investments
- investirto formally give power
German investieren, investieren
- investierento spend money, time, and effort into something
- investierento commit resources in the hope of financial gain
- investierento make investments
Hebrew השקיע
- השקיע (hishkía)to commit resources in the hope of financial gain
Hungarian befektet, befektet
- befektetto spend money, time, and effort into something
- befektetto commit resources in the hope of financial gain
- beruházto commit resources in the hope of financial gain
- invesztálto commit resources in the hope of financial gain
Indonesian berinvestasi
- berinvestasito commit resources in the hope of financial gain
Italian investire, investire
- investireto spend money, time, and effort into something
- investireto commit resources in the hope of financial gain
Japanese 投入する, 投資する
- 投入する (tōnyū suru)to spend money, time, and effort into something
- 投資する (tōshi suru)to commit resources in the hope of financial gain
Korean 투자하다
- 투자하다 (tuja-hada)to commit resources in the hope of financial gain
Latin collocō, collocō
- collocōto spend money, time, and effort into something
- collocōto commit resources in the hope of financial gain
- circumsedeoto lay siege to
Latvian ieguldīt, ieguldīt
- ieguldītto spend money, time, and effort into something
- ieguldītto commit resources in the hope of financial gain
- ieguldītto make investments
Malay melabur
- melaburto commit resources in the hope of financial gain
Māori whakangao, whakangao moni
- whakangaoto commit resources in the hope of financial gain
- whakangao monito commit resources in the hope of financial gain
- whakaoatito ceremonially install into office
- whakangaoto make investments
Norwegian investere
- investereto commit resources in the hope of financial gain
Persian سرمایهگذاری کردن
- سرمایهگذاری کردن (sarmâye-gozâri kardan)to commit resources in the hope of financial gain
Polish inwestować, zainwestować
- inwestowaćto commit resources in the hope of financial gain
- zainwestowaćto commit resources in the hope of financial gain
Portuguese investir, cobrir
- investirto spend money, time, and effort into something
- cobrirto envelop, wrap, cover
- investirto commit resources in the hope of financial gain
- investirto ceremonially install into office
- cercarto lay siege to
- sitiarto lay siege to
- assediarto lay siege to
- investirto make investments
- investirto formally give power
Russian вкла́дывать, вложи́ть
- вкла́дывать (vkládyvatʹ)to spend money, time, and effort into something
- вложи́ть (vložítʹ)to spend money, time, and effort into something
- покрыва́ть (pokryvátʹ)to envelop, wrap, cover
- покры́ть (pokrýtʹ)to envelop, wrap, cover
- инвести́ровать (investírovatʹ)to commit resources in the hope of financial gain
- вкла́дывать (vkládyvatʹ)to commit resources in the hope of financial gain
- вложи́ть (vložítʹ)to commit resources in the hope of financial gain
- наделя́ть (nadeljátʹ)to formally give power
- надели́ть (nadelítʹ)to formally give power
Spanish invertir, insumir
- invertirto spend money, time, and effort into something
- insumirto spend money, time, and effort into something
- invertirto commit resources in the hope of financial gain
- insumirto commit resources in the hope of financial gain
- investirto ceremonially install into office
- invertirto make investments
- insumirto make investments
- entregarse ato be involved in; to form strong attachments to
- involucrarse emocionalmente ento be involved in; to form strong attachments to
- invertirse ento be involved in; to form strong attachments to
- ser devoto ato be involved in; to form strong attachments to
- investirto formally give power
Swahili wekeza, wekeza
- wekezato spend money, time, and effort into something
- wekezato commit resources in the hope of financial gain
- wekezato make investments
Swedish investera, investera
- investerato spend money, time, and effort into something
- investerato commit resources in the hope of financial gain
Tagalog mamuhunan
- mamuhunanto commit resources in the hope of financial gain
Thai ลงทุน, ลงทุนลงแรง
- ลงทุน (long-tun)to spend money, time, and effort into something
- ลงทุนลงแรงto spend money, time, and effort into something
- ลงทุน (long-tun)to commit resources in the hope of financial gain
- ลงทุน (long-tun)to make investments
Turkish yatırım yapmak
- yatırım yapmakto commit resources in the hope of financial gain
Ukrainian інвестува́ти, вклада́ти
- інвестува́ти (investuváty)to commit resources in the hope of financial gain
- вклада́ти (vkladáty)to commit resources in the hope of financial gain
- вкла́сти (vklásty)to commit resources in the hope of financial gain
Vietnamese đầu tư
- đầu tưto commit resources in the hope of financial gain
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with invest
Anagrams
Cite this entry
invest. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/invest
“invest.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/invest. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “invest,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/invest.
Source: invest on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.