Invict
adj.resilient, hopefulliterary
What it means
Unconquered or undefeated.
Reach for it when choosing a rare literary word for a spirit or force that has not been subdued
The poem leaves the exiled community invict in memory and language.
Choose between these
5- everyday
no contest has yet ended in defeat
not when Undefeated is competitive and may reflect a short record.
- warm
recovery after setbacks is the honest strength
not when Resilient does not deny defeat and is preferable when survival, not victory, matters.
- formal
defeat or domination has not occurred
not when Unconquered describes history and does not promise future victory.
- formal
an opponent or force remains unbeaten
not when Unvanquished sounds martial and is unusual in everyday praise.
- literary
spirit cannot be subdued even after losses
not when Indomitable allows actual defeat, while invict says unconquered.
Said against
3- defeated
- conquered
- subdued
It naturally appears in
3- remain invict
In the final stanza, the human wish to create remains invict.
- invict spirit
The memorial honors an invict spirit without denying the community's losses.
- stand invict
The old cedar seems to stand invict above the storm-cleared slope.
Where this comes from
Invict is marked obsolete by the cited source and is often rhetorical. It should not erase actual losses when resilience is the more truthful praise.
- Wiktionary, English adjective sense 1: obsolete, unconquered or unsubdued opens in a new tab · retrieved 2026-07-26
The definition and the example on this page are written here. The dictionaries above ground which meaning is being described, not the wording.