invent

[in-vent]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR invent ON THESAURUS.COM

verb (used with object)

to originate or create as a product of one's own ingenuity, experimentation, or contrivance: to invent the telegraph.

to produce or create with the imagination: to invent a story.

to make up or fabricate (something fictitious or false): to invent excuses.

Archaic. to come upon; find.

Origin of invent

1425–75; late Middle English invented (past participle) found, discovered (see -ed²) < Latin inventus, past participle of invenīre to encounter, come upon, find, equivalent to in- in-² + ven(īre) to come + -tus past participle suffix

Related formsin·vent·i·ble, in·vent·a·ble, adjectiveout·in·vent, verb (used with object)pre·in·vent, verb (used with object)self-in·vent·ed, adjectiveun·in·vent·ed, adjectivewell-in·vent·ed, adjective

Synonyms for invent

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR invent ON THESAURUS.COM

1. devise, contrive. See discover. 2. imagine, conceive. 3. concoct.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for invent

fashion, envision, formulate, devise, conceive, originate, discover, bear, initiate, produce, design, forge, find, concoct, fake, improvise, execute, compose, form, author

Examples from the Web for invent

Contemporary Examples of invent

I still do find it a tremendously useful device to invent a character and have the character sing the song.
Belle & Sebastian Aren’t So Shy Anymore
James Joiner
January 7, 2015
As a Harvard undergraduate, he used systolic blood pressure readings to invent the lie detector test.
Wonder Woman’s Creation Story Is Wilder Than You Could Ever Imagine
Tom Arnold-Forster
November 3, 2014
Did McCarthy invent the portrayal of violence in fiction, or should that laurel go to Homer?
Compliments Are Nice, but Enough With the Cormac McCarthy Comparisons
William Giraldi
October 21, 2014
By using an alter ego, he liberates himself, relaxes himself so he can invent freely.
The Stacks: Robin Williams, More Than A Shtick Figure
Joe Morgenstern
August 16, 2014
Not surprisingly, the losers were now winning engineers; one of the MIT graduates had gone on to invent ear buds for Apple.
These Undocumented Teens Outsmarted MIT—and Still Cant Get Real Jobs in America
Jonathan Alter
July 14, 2014

Historical Examples of invent

I should be b-a-d, and I should sit up nights to invent new ways of evil.
The Spenders
Harry Leon Wilson
I will move detachments and advance brigades, and invent strategy.
In the Midst of Alarms
Robert Barr
What could she invent, so to be before him in giving her charity?
The Dream
Emile Zola
"That's as good a description of him as you could invent," he said.
The Foolish Lovers
St. John G. Ervine
A telegraph operator, in their eyes, has no business to invent.
Heroes of the Telegraph
J. Munro

British Dictionary definitions for invent

invent

verb

to create or devise (new ideas, machines, etc)

to make up (falsehoods); fabricate

Derived Formsinventible or inventable, adjective

Word Origin for invent

C15: from Latin invenīre to find, come upon, from in- ² + venīre to come

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for invent

late 15c., "find, discover," a back-formation from invention or else from Latin inventus, past participle of invenire "to come upon; devise, discover" (see invention). Meaning "make up, think up" is from 1530s, as is that of "produce by original thought." Related: Invented; inventing.