innovative
Americanadjective
adjective
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Etymology
Origin of innovative
Explanation
Something innovative is new and original. If you love to experiment and find new ways to do things, you are an innovative person. Innovative, like nova, novel, and novice, comes from the Latin novus, which means new. Something innovative renews or alters the way something has been done. You can use innovative to describe the thing or the person that made it. If your English teacher objects to your experimental writing style, tell him, "I'm an innovative writer making innovative sentences!" Antonyms are unoriginal and hackneyed.
Vocabulary lists containing innovative
Brand Spankin' New: Words with Neo- and Nov-
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100 SAT Words Beginning with "I"
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Mardi Gras: Fun
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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.
Six years later, it became a beverage distributor and renamed itself Innovative Beverage Group.
From Barron's • Mar. 2, 2026
Innovative U.S. inertial fusion energy companies, including those that use pulsed power and laser approaches, are building demonstration systems on a scale comparable to China’s facilities.
From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 23, 2026
Funding was provided by organizations including the Swedish Research Council, the Hållsten Research Foundation, the Alzheimer's Foundation and the private initiative Innovative ways to fight Alzheimer´s disease -- Leif Lundblad Family and others and RIKEN.
From Science Daily • Feb. 17, 2026
Innovative novels from Ann Patchett and Claire Lombardo are rooted in ordinary lives, magic tricks kept to a minimum.
From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 2, 2025
Which naturally leads to a related pair of crime-drop explanations: Innovative policing strategies Increased number of police Let’s address the second one first.
From "Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything" by Steven D. Levitt
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.
