innovate
Americanverb (used without object)
verb (used with object)
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to introduce (something new) for or as if for the first time.
to innovate a computer operating system.
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Archaic. to alter.
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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innovatesimple
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innovatessimple
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have innovatedperfect
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has innovatedperfect
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am innovatingprogressive
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are innovatingprogressive
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is innovatingprogressive
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have been innovatingperfect progressive
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has been innovatingperfect progressive
Past
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innovatedsimple
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had innovatedperfect
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was innovatingprogressive
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were innovatingprogressive
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had been innovatingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of innovate
First recorded in 1540–50; from Latin innovātus, past participle of innovāre “to renew, alter,” equivalent to in- intensive prefix + novātus, past participle of novā(re) “to renew,” verbal derivative of novus “new” + -tus past participle suffix); see in- 2, new
Explanation
Innovate means to bring something new to something. If you love cranberry seltzers, you might innovate by adding limeade or by making the drink with cran-raspberry juice instead. In our culture obsessed with finding the next new thing, the word innovate is very popular––behind every "new and improved" label slapped onto the packaging of some perfectly useful product is some eager beaver buried in the ranks of a company, scheming ways to innovate.
Vocabulary lists containing innovate
A Résumé of Active Words
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Academic Vocabulary, Units 4–6
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
We are trying to innovate with the Pure Leaf brand on mental focus.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 9, 2026
The mismatch bodes ill for an economy already in crisis and struggling to innovate.
From Barron's ● Jun. 30, 2026
A senior executive at Amazon said in an internal note last October that the company needed to be organised "more leanly" because AI was "enabling companies to innovate much faster than ever before."
From BBC ● Jun. 23, 2026
“Micron’s strategic collaboration with Anthropic brings together the industry-leading capabilities of both companies to innovate and scale next-generation AI infrastructure,” Micron’s chief business officer, Sumit Sadana, said in a statement.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 22, 2026
The mere creative instinct does not innovate, but reproduces.
From Intentions by Wilde, Oscar
A Nike spokeswoman said that more diverse interests in China plays to Nike’s strengths as a company that innovates across sporting categories.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 12, 2026
Meta hasn’t been sitting idly by while OpenAI innovates.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 13, 2025
The collective bargaining agreement, which extends the current CBA by four years, through 2030, “revolutionizes the game, raises standards, and innovates the business,” Berman added.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 22, 2024
Here’s a contrarian thought: That critique misses a wider point about how Apple innovates, because the company has used the project to power a whole ecosystem of products and services that have been unmitigated successes.
From New York Times ● Feb. 28, 2024
But in religion it is always the zealous sect which innovates, which progresses, and which has influence.
From The Life of Jesus by Renan, Ernest
Cesena, like most Italian clubs, rent their stadium and training facilities from the local authority, but Cole has innovated where he can.
From BBC ● Apr. 16, 2026
Social media platforms innovated new ways to keep users scrolling.
From Salon ● Feb. 7, 2026
Apple has gotten some flak from critics on Wall Street who say the company hasn’t innovated enough in its smartphone business.
From MarketWatch ● Nov. 26, 2025
During his Springbok tenure, the former Free State flanker, who won 37 international caps, has innovated with strokes of genius such as naming a bench with just one back and rolling mauls in open play.
From Barron's ● Nov. 9, 2025
Tristan und Isolde is an out-and-out masterpiece, with sweeping, yearning themes, deserving of its place in music’s pantheon, whatever it may or may not have innovated.
From "The Story of Music" by Howard Goodall
As someone who is perennially image-conscious, constantly innovating, and occasionally rash, it’s not surprising that an artist like Madonna would incorporate new technology into her art.
From Salon ● Jul. 8, 2026
“We are focused on innovating at the pace of demand, supporting accelerating investments in growth and capitalization on strategic opportunities while effectively managing our capital structure.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 23, 2026
But they fail to appreciate that companies innovating and creating new markets can grow faster for longer and in a more durable, repeatable manner than the market generally expects.
From Barron's ● Jun. 11, 2026
Let’s stop innovating, let’s stop trying to break the mold on them.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 11, 2026
Thallus 1–2´ long, forked, innovating from the apex, with a somewhat diffuse costa; peduncle very hairy, 1–1½´ long.—Introduced into greenhouses; always sterile, but easily recognized by the characteristic receptacles.
From The Manual of the Botany of the Northern United States Including the District East of the Mississippi and North of North Carolina and Tennessee by Gray, Asa
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
