inventive
apt at inventing or thinking up new machines or devices, methods, solutions, etc., or at improvising from what is at hand; innovative or ingenious: Luckily the bike mechanic is a most inventive person—you’ll be surprised at what he can do with a piece of wire and some scrap metal.
apt at creating with the imagination:The delightful and tirelessly inventive storyteller is back with an animated stop-motion adventure.
being the product of imagination, resourcefulness, etc.; creative and original: It’s an enthralling, inventive, and wholly unique exhibit from an artist without peer.
relating to or used for inventing: These recordings captured the musician at the height of her inventive power.
Origin of inventive
1Other words from inventive
- in·ven·tive·ly, adverb
- in·ven·tive·ness, noun
- pre·in·ven·tive, adjective
- un·in·ven·tive, adjective
- un·in·ven·tive·ly, adverb
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use inventive in a sentence
In the ideal situation, one with a strong offensive line, capable pass catchers and an inventive head coach, he could end the 2021 campaign as one of the five best quarterbacks of the year.
Ignore the losses: Matthew Stafford is a quarterback worth pursuing | Neil Greenberg | January 27, 2021 | Washington PostRather than use that perch to offer lovers of Shakespeare conventional fare in tights and ruffs, Griffin filled the 265-seat Elizabethan-style space with inventive interpretations of popular and lesser-known works.
Folger Theatre’s Janet Griffin announces her retirement after decades of devotion to Shakespeare | Peter Marks | January 27, 2021 | Washington PostWe teamed up with Land Rover Defender to highlight the country's most inventive adventures.
Emily Harrington Explores Maine’s Coastal Crags | Outside Editors | December 15, 2020 | Outside OnlineThe companies say their systems can sniff out many of the inventive ways students game tests, such as looking at wall-mounted notes, copying from other websites or listening to a friend say the answers out loud.
Cheating-detection companies made millions during the pandemic. Now students are fighting back. | Drew Harwell | November 12, 2020 | Washington PostWe have to get inventive to put that measurement in place as we test things.
‘Race to deliver’: Pernod Ricard CMO Pam Forbus on a new anti-hate speech initiative and how the coronavirus changed the company’s marketing | Kristina Monllos | October 22, 2020 | Digiday
My father excelled in business above all by imagination and inventiveness.
Sometimes Chinese inventiveness is just process innovation or casual repurposing of existing technologies.
There are signs everywhere of this spontaneous inventiveness that may finally make us the copycats.
Her brashness, inventiveness, and inexhaustible energy carried her the rest of the way.
There is not enough inventiveness between tick and tock to transcend preexistent types.
Those two remarkable Englishmen were alike in their daring inventiveness, and not unlike in face and person.
Life of Richard Trevithick, Volume II (of 2) | Francis TrevithickIf so, a considerable amount of inventiveness may have been required, besides a high order of constructiveness.
Invention | Bradley A. FiskeWith a boy's lack of inventiveness we called him "Tiger" although anything less ferocious than he would be hard to find.
South American Fights and Fighters | Cyrus Townsend BradyThis is a test of a certain type of inventiveness, namely linguistic invention.
The Science of Human Nature | William Henry PyleHe was full of inventiveness, and he may have adopted that course hoping, when the time came, to prove an alibi.
The Sign of Silence | William Le Queux
British Dictionary definitions for inventive
/ (ɪnˈvɛntɪv) /
skilled or quick at contriving; ingenious; resourceful
characterized by inventive skill: an inventive programme of work
of or relating to invention
Derived forms of inventive
- inventively, adverb
- inventiveness, noun
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Browse