invent
Americanverb (used with object)
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to originate or create as a product of one's own ingenuity, experimentation, or contrivance.
to invent the telegraph.
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to produce or create with the imagination.
to invent a story.
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to make up or fabricate (something fictitious or false).
to invent excuses.
- Synonyms:
- concoct
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Archaic. to come upon; find.
verb
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to create or devise (new ideas, machines, etc)
-
to make up (falsehoods); fabricate
Related Words
See discover.
Other Word Forms
- inventable adjective
- inventible adjective
- outinvent verb (used with object)
- preinvent verb (used with object)
- self-invented adjective
- uninvented adjective
- well-invented adjective
Etymology
Origin of invent
First recorded in 1425–75; back formation from late Middle English invented (past participle) “found, discovered,” from Latin invent(us) “encountered” (past participle of invenīre “to come upon, encounter, find,” from in- in- 2 + venīre “to come”; come ) + -ed 2
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.
“AI is really pushing the envelope for performance and reliability,” Yang said, adding that some chip customers are planning around materials that haven’t even been invented yet.
From MarketWatch
"AI 'enhancements' can invent faces, weapons, and other critical details that were never visible in original footage -- or in real life."
From Barron's
Whether or not it is innate, the faculty was recognized by the Greeks when they invented philosophy around the sixth century B.C.
“It’s a language more ancient than any invented by humans.”
From Literature
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The thing’s enormous, eight feet high and wide, with webs of wires and rows of rotating rotors—like something the Son of Frankenstein might have invented, if he’d been a brilliant code breaker.
From Literature
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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.