innovate
Americanverb (used without object)
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innovates,
present (3rd person singular)
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innovated,
past participle, past
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innovating
present participle
verb (used with object)
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innovates,
present (3rd person singular)
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innovated,
past participle, past
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innovating
present participle
-
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:
As the largest stock market-listed ice cream company in the world, with a market capitalisation of around £8bn, it has the funds to innovate.
From BBC ● Aug. 14, 2026
They say the decision is sort of to make space to innovate the live show and incorporate new things.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 13, 2026
The company has continued to innovate with lenses that slow the progression of short-sightedness in children.
From Barron's ● Jul. 28, 2026
Their efforts to innovate are partly a bid to satisfy ever tightening regulation around commercial recycling, and rising fines for those who fall foul.
From BBC ● Jul. 27, 2026
They do not object to innovators because what they innovate is bad; they object to innovators because they innovate.
From Nonsenseorship by G. G. Putnam
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
From August 2025: Apple no longer innovates — it waits.
From MarketWatch ● Apr. 21, 2026
Besson innovates with a subplot about Dracul’s foray into the world of perfume as he develops an intoxicating fragrance in Florence using French lavender, testing the potion on the pre-Revolution socialites in towering white-powdered wigs.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 6, 2026
“These new challenges rise up, and the industry innovates their way to not completely but at least partly solve many of these issues,” Mr. Godbolt said.
From New York Times ● Jan. 17, 2024
What but his faculty to brave, to suffer, to endure—the patience that resists firmly, and innovates slowly?
From The International Monthly, Volume 4, No. 3, October, 1851 by Various
Against the country that had innovated the jogo bonito, Haaland’s performance was a masterpiece of straightforward brutality.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 5, 2026
“It’s possible that we’ve innovated with plants under more scrutiny than any other company ever,” he added.
From MarketWatch ● May 6, 2026
Further, American growers have not just decreased imports and increased their exports over the years, they’ve also innovated on the plant itself.
From Salon ● May 6, 2026
Guardiola innovated and Arteta imagined how the game would adapt.
From BBC ● Apr. 17, 2026
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
She said some designers are now innovating fabrics with zinc oxide to make the material feel cooler to the touch.
From BBC ● Aug. 3, 2026
“It is during this period that leading companies find ways to differentiate themselves by innovating, delivering new and superior solutions, and driving durable growth. This is where PayPal needs to focus.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 29, 2026
Never mind that countless PBS documentaries have had no trouble realistically depicting revolutionary-era America without AI; Netflix is innovating.
From Salon ● Jul. 23, 2026
“Our approach is, instead of innovating on the chemistry side of things, let’s innovate on the way that the batteries are made,” says Elias.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 19, 2026
In addition to this, the mythology and language of the Aryans alike bear the impress of the innovating and restless spirit of the sons of Japhet.
From The Origin of the World According to Revelation and Science by John William Dawson
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.
