inventor
Americannoun
noun
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of inventor
From Latin, dating back to 1500–10; see origin at invent, -tor
Explanation
The person who first comes up with a brand new idea or thing is its inventor. A woman named Mary Anderson, for example, is credited with being the inventor of the windshield wiper blade for cars. Lewis Latimer invented many things during his lifetime, and drafted the patent for the telephone (with fellow inventor Alexander Graham Bell). Oddly enough, Latimer's first work as an inventor was developing a restroom for train cars, in 1874. In the 1940s, actress Hedy Lamarr was the inventor of a communications technology that eventually made wireless technology, including cell phones, possible. In Latin, inventor means "contriver, author, or discoverer."
Vocabulary lists containing inventor
Business, List 1
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Florida's B.E.S.T. Common Suffixes: -er, -or
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This Week in Words: Current Events Vocab for September 25–October 5, 2021
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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.
In 2013, he arranged for her to get a job as a flying instructor for the company of entrepreneur Dean Kamen, inventor of the Segway.
From BBC • May 19, 2026
A spokesman for Kamen has previously said the inventor deeply regrets having any interactions with Epstein, and had no involvement in, or knowledge, of his crimes.
From BBC • May 19, 2026
For more than 500 years, Leonardo da Vinci has been admired as a brilliant artist, inventor, and thinker whose talents seemed far ahead of his time.
From Science Daily • May 4, 2026
Bayne is an inventor, with patent-pending applications for artificial intelligence tools designed to aid attorneys with workflow automation.
From Los Angeles Times • May 1, 2026
This is why I’m going to become an inventor.
From "The (Mostly) True Story of Cleopatra's Needle" by Dan Gutman
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.
