invention

[in-ven-shuhn]

noun

1. the act of inventing.

2. U.S. Patent Law.,  a new, useful process, machine, improvement, etc., that did not exist previously and that is recognized as the product of some unique intuition or genius, as distinguished from ordinary mechanical skill or craftsmanship.

3. anything invented or devised.

4. the power or faculty of inventing, devising, or originating.

5. an act or instance of creating or producing by exercise of the imagination, especially in art, music, etc.

6. something fabricated, as a false statement.

7. Sociology.,  the creation of a new culture trait, pattern, etc.

8. Music.,  a short piece, contrapuntal in nature, generally based on one subject.

9. Rhetoric.,  (traditionally) one of the five steps in speech preparation, the process of choosing ideas appropriate to the subject, audience, and occasion.

10. Archaic.,  the act of finding.

invention

/ ɪnˈvɛnʃən /

noun

1. the act or process of inventing

2. something that is invented

3. patent law the discovery or production of some new or improved process or machine that is both useful and is not obvious to persons skilled in the particular field

4. creative power or ability; inventive skill

5. euphemistic,  a fabrication; lie

6. (in traditional rhetoric) one of the five steps in preparing a speech or discourse: the process of finding suitable topics on which to talk or write

7. music a short piece consisting of two or three parts usually in imitative counterpoint

8. sociol the creation of a new cultural pattern or trait

Other Word Forms

• inventional adjective
• inventionless adjective
• preinvention noun
• self-invention noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of invention¹

First recorded in 1300–50; Middle English invencio(u)n, from Latin inventiōn-, stem of inventiō “discovery, finding out”; equivalent to invent + -ion

Example Sentences

When it comes to the world of comic invention and linguistic pyrotechnics, few dramatists of the 20th century could match the scope and sustained success of British writer Tom Stoppard, who has died aged 88.

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With the 1793 invention of the cotton gin—which separated cotton fibers from its seeds with a previously undreamed-of efficiency—America’s plantation economy expanded exponentially and so did its use of slave labor.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

As is true of most great inventions, popular culture’s most effective Rorschach tests are entirely accidental, whereas the most meticulously planned weirdness tends to flop hardest.

Read more on Salon

As ChatGPT marks its third anniversary, it offers a simple lesson to enforcers and courts alike: In technology markets, the most powerful check on monopoly is often the next invention.

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Before the invention of electronic games and smartphones, that was a more complicated question for parents.

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