innovative
Americanadjective
adjective
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of innovative
Explanation
Something innovative is new and original. If you love to experiment and find new ways to do things, you are an innovative person. Innovative, like nova, novel, and novice, comes from the Latin novus, which means new. Something innovative renews or alters the way something has been done. You can use innovative to describe the thing or the person that made it. If your English teacher objects to your experimental writing style, tell him, "I'm an innovative writer making innovative sentences!" Antonyms are unoriginal and hackneyed.
Vocabulary lists containing innovative
Brand Spankin' New: Words with Neo- and Nov-
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100 SAT Words Beginning with "I"
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Mardi Gras: Fun
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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.
Previously, Julia served as a special projects editor at Yahoo News, where she focused on innovative digital storytelling and audience development.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 22, 2026
The most innovative device unveiled Wednesday is the Galaxy Z Fold8.
From Barron's ● Jul. 22, 2026
If that were an innovative idea, we’d have been worshipping at the heels of last year’s equally topical yet no less trite sci-fi horror “Companion.”
From Salon ● Jul. 22, 2026
His arrival in government was greeted with much fanfare by some in the Labour Party and described as "radical" and "innovative".
From BBC ● Jul. 20, 2026
But it wasn’t only the number of police that changed in the 1990s; consider the most commonly cited crime-drop explanation of all: innovative policing strategies.
From "Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything" by Steven D. Levitt
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.
