invasion

invasion, incursion, raid, inroad are comparable when meaning an entrance effected by force or strategy.

Invasion basically implies entrance upon another's territory with such hostile intentions as conquest, plunder, or use as a basis of operations

{

the Roman invasion of Britain

}

{

in a well-planned Hitlerian invasion there is at first no shooting save by those who are taking their own lives— New Republic

}

In nonmilitary use it may imply encroachment, trespass, or an intrusion that involves an aggressive or hostile purpose

{

I was forced by my duty to the Constitution to refuse to answer on the grounds that it was an invasion of a citizen's basic rights— Driscoll

}

{

the alarmist takes every sound as an invasion by burglars— Fishbeiri

}

Sometimes it implies no more than entrance with or as if with a rush by a horde or crowd

{

the annual invasion of the Connecticut suburbs by what its victims call "the summer people" is complete— Weidman

}

Incursion, especially in military use, carries a stronger connotation of suddenness, unexpectedness, or haste than invasion; it often also suggests an immediate end and a quick withdrawal when the end is achieved

{

the American colonists were in constant fear of incursions by the Indians

}

{

English intruders landed at Golfo Dulce in 1684, made an incursion inland, and retired— Jones

}

In its extended sense incursion applies chiefly to an invasion in large numbers of something dreaded or harmful, undesirable, but not necessarily inimical

{

the peace of the neighborhood was frequently broken by incursions of gangs of small boys

}

{

the barrier should have been sufficient to protect the adjoining owner against the incursions, not of all pigs, but of pigs of "average vigor and obstinacy"— Cardozo

}

Raid, frequent in military use for a swift, sudden invasion (as of cavalry or of air forces) may or may not suggest more preparation, more strategy, and more fury in attack than incursion, its close synonym

{

the raids in the Shenandoah Valley by Forrest's Confederate cavalry during 1863

}

{

nightly bombing raids on London

}

In international law, however, raid is applicable specifically to an incursion of armed forces that are unauthorized or unrecognized by any state into a country that is at peace; thus, an incursion of armed persons on one side of a border or boundary line into the adjoining country for a predatory or hostile purpose is technically a raid. In its extended use raid applies to a sudden descent or a flurry of activity intended usually to obtain the use, control, or possession of something; thus, officers of the law conduct a raid upon a gambling resort or a place where liquor is illicitly made or sold to obtain evidence and arrest offenders

{

the raids of government and industry on college personnel, especially in the fields of science— J. R. Butler

}

{

before the last raid on the railroads by the various unions— Arden

}

Inroad may apply to a sudden hostile incursion or a forcible entering

{

Aggressive war, as distinguished from mere plundering inroads— Freeman

}

{

protecting their crops of barley from the inroads of sparrows— Frazery

}

but the term is also applied to an invasion that involves encroachment or advance especially at the expense of someone or something

{

foil and plastic are making inroads where glass once held undisputed sway— Ericsori

}

{

activities that make inroads upon his time and his health

}

Analogous words: aggression, *attack, offense, offensive: trespass, violation, transgression, infringement, infraction, *breach: intruding or intrusion, interloping, butting in, obtruding or obtrusion (see corresponding verbs at INTRUDE): encroachment, entrenchment (see corresponding verbs at TRESPASS)