inventor
Americannoun
noun
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of inventor
From Latin, dating back to 1500–10; see origin at invent, -tor
Explanation
The person who first comes up with a brand new idea or thing is its inventor. A woman named Mary Anderson, for example, is credited with being the inventor of the windshield wiper blade for cars. Lewis Latimer invented many things during his lifetime, and drafted the patent for the telephone (with fellow inventor Alexander Graham Bell). Oddly enough, Latimer's first work as an inventor was developing a restroom for train cars, in 1874. In the 1940s, actress Hedy Lamarr was the inventor of a communications technology that eventually made wireless technology, including cell phones, possible. In Latin, inventor means "contriver, author, or discoverer."
Vocabulary lists containing inventor
Business, List 1
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Florida's B.E.S.T. Common Suffixes: -er, -or
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This Week in Words: Current Events Vocab for September 25–October 5, 2021
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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.
Inventor Louis Glass and engineer William S. Arnold created the original coin-in-the-slot phonograph in 1889: It played one song on a metal disk or cylinder.
From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 14, 2026
On his gravestone it reads, "Inventor of Cluedo".
From BBC • Nov. 23, 2025
Inventor and KTU PhD student Lauryna Monika Svirskaite says that the main difference between the two structures is the areas of their application.
From Science Daily • May 15, 2024
Inventor Nikola Tesla lived at the hotel for for a decade.
From Seattle Times • Feb. 15, 2024
She’s been like this ever since she got her Mastermind Inventor ability from the Crystal Ball.
From "Amari and the Night Brothers" by B.B. Alston
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.
