Invigilate is a descendant of the Latin verb vigilare, meaning "to stay awake." As you may have guessed, vigilare is the ancestor of our adjective vigilant ("alertly watchful"), and it also gives us reveille ("a signal to wake up in the morning," via French reveiller) and surveillance ("close watch, supervision," via French survéiller). Invigilate has been a part of the English language since the mid-16th century.
First Known Use: 1553
in the meaning defined at intransitive sense
See Words from the same year
: to watch students who are taking an examination
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