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definitions

invent

[ in-vent ]
/ ɪnˈvɛnt /
||
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.

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RELATED WORDS

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

Nearby words

  1. invective,
  2. invectively,
  3. inveigh,
  4. inveigle,
  5. invenit,
  6. invent the wheel,
  7. invention,
  8. inventive,
  9. inventively,
  10. inventor

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
SYNONYMS FOR invent
1 devise, contrive. See discover.
2 imagine, conceive.
3 concoct.
SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR invent ON THESAURUS.COM
Related forms
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for invent

British Dictionary definitions for invent

invent

/ (ɪnˈvɛnt) /

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

invent

v.

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.

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper