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.
It directs various agencies to develop and implement campaigns for “safe and effective, nonchemical, and innovative technology-enabled methods” of doing so.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 9, 2026
"These investigations exemplify how Artemis and Moon Base are expanding the frontier of lunar exploration, advancing innovative technologies, deepening our understanding of the Moon's environment, and paving the way for future astronaut missions."
From Science Daily ● Oct. 8, 2026
According to Psychology Today, “the same neural pathways responsible for generating innovative connections for humor may also create the intense introspection characteristic of depression.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 8, 2026
Co-ordinator of Share Oxford, which also runs repair cafes in Oxford, Ben Tuppen previously said society needed to be more innovative in its approach to sustainability.
From BBC ● Oct. 2, 2026
Now, somehow, the same innovative spirit was being put to the opposite purpose: to hide the risk by complicating it.
From "The Big Short" by Michael Lewis
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.
