Convocate

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. Formally summoning a group of people to gather for a meeting, council, or assembly
2. To bring a body of people together by an official call or summons to assemble
3. Calling an assembly or gathering of persons together in a formal and authoritative manner

Etymology: "Convocate" comes to English directly from Latin "convocatus," the past participle of "convocare," meaning "to call together." The Latin verb was built from "com-," "together," and "vocare," "to call," the same "vocare" that gives English "vocation" and "vocal." The word therefore names a call that gathers people into one place. The English verb is a doublet of "convoke," a pair of words that entered the language along separate routes from the same Latin source. Both express the same idea of summoning people to assemble, and "convoke" is the more familiar of the two today. "Convocate" survives as a more formal or rarer choice, but it preserves the Latin shape more closely than its sibling does.

Synonyms: convene, summon, assemble, convoke, muster

Antonyms: disperse, adjourn, dismiss