innovate
Americanverb (used without object)
verb (used with object)
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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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Chirp
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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:
But “had we hired junior bankers day one, we would not have been forced to innovate on the process.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 20, 2026
"A strong European defence ecosystem depends on independent companies that compete, innovate and collaborate where it makes sense," it said.
From Barron's ● Jul. 2, 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
Infectiously enthusiastic, he continued to innovate well into his eighties, with landscapes of his new home in Normandy completed during the coronavirus lockdown.
From BBC ● Jun. 12, 2026
They do not object to innovators because what they innovate is bad; they object to innovators because they innovate.
From Nonsenseorship by Putnam, G. G.
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
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
Meta hasn’t been sitting idly by while OpenAI innovates.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 13, 2025
Here’s a contrarian thought: That critique misses a wider point about how Apple innovates, because the company has used the project to power a whole ecosystem of products and services that have been unmitigated successes.
From New York Times ● Feb. 28, 2024
But there is no certainty beforehand; and if he fails, he expects blame not because he innovates, but because he has failed by innovating.
From Oxford Lectures on Poetry by Bradley, Andrew Cecil
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
Apple has gotten some flak from critics on Wall Street who say the company hasn’t innovated enough in its smartphone business.
From MarketWatch ● Nov. 26, 2025
During his Springbok tenure, the former Free State flanker, who won 37 international caps, has innovated with strokes of genius such as naming a bench with just one back and rolling mauls in open play.
From Barron's ● Nov. 9, 2025
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
As someone who is perennially image-conscious, constantly innovating, and occasionally rash, it’s not surprising that an artist like Madonna would incorporate new technology into her art.
From Salon ● Jul. 8, 2026
"It remains to be seen how well the combination of a digitally innovating streaming company will mesh with a media conglomerate rooted in legacy assets," Benes said.
From Barron's ● Jun. 15, 2026
Let’s stop innovating, let’s stop trying to break the mold on them.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 11, 2026
Huawei is innovating around the controls—impressively, in places—but it’s working around a wall it has now admitted, in its own writing, it can’t climb over.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 2, 2026
The agitation began in 1761, and by the innovating ideas which it flung abroad it is as important as the Declaration itself, or the great constitutional debate.
From Lectures on the French Revolution by Figgis, John Neville
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.
