inventory

American  

[in-vuhn-tawr-ee, -tohr-ee] / ˈɪn vənˌtɔr i, -ˌtoʊr i /

noun

• inventories
  plural

1. a complete listing of merchandise or stock on hand, work in progress, raw materials, finished goods on hand, etc., made each year by a business concern.

2. the objects or items represented on such a list, as a merchant's stock of goods.

3. the aggregate value of a stock of goods.

4. raw material from the time of its receipt at an industrial plant for manufacturing purposes to the time it is sold.

5. a detailed, often descriptive, list of articles, giving the code number, quantity, and value of each; catalog.

   Synonyms:

   account, register, record, roster

6. a formal list of movables, as of a merchant's stock of goods.

7. a formal list of the property of a person or estate.

8. a tally of one's personality traits, aptitudes, skills, etc., for use in counseling and guidance.

9. a catalog of natural resources, especially a count or estimate of wildlife and game in a particular area.

10. the act of making a catalog or detailed listing.

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verb (used with object)

• inventories,
  present (3rd person singular)
• inventoried,
  past participle,  past
• inventorying
  present participle

1. to make an inventory of; enter in an inventory; catalog.

2. to take stock of; evaluate.

   to inventory one's life and accomplishments.

3. to summarize.

   to inventory the progress in chemistry.

4. to keep an available supply of (merchandise); stock.

verb (used without object)

• inventories,
  present (3rd person singular)
• inventoried,
  past participle,  past
• inventorying
  present participle

1. to have value as shown by an inventory.

   stock that inventories at two million dollars.

inventory British  

/ ˈɪnvəntərɪ, -trɪ /

noun

1. a detailed list of articles, goods, property, etc

2. (often plural) accounting

   1. the amount or value of a firm's current assets that consist of raw materials, work in progress, and finished goods; stock

   2. such assets individually

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verb

1. (tr) to enter (items) in an inventory; make a list of

inventory Cultural  

1. An itemized list of a firm's goods that have not yet been sold.

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Usage

What does inventory mean? An inventory is a complete list of all merchandise or stock of items owned by or available from a business. At a store, an inventory is the complete list of all items for sale at the store. At a manufacturer, an inventory is a complete list of all the raw materials they have, as well as finished items and items being created. An inventory is also the specific set of products to sell, as in The store’s inventory of superhero capes is running low and will probably sell out soon. An inventory can also refer to figurative belongings, such as a person’s personality traits and skills. To inventory means to add things to an inventory list, whether a literal or figurative list, as in I inventoried my options for colleges and chose the school I’ll attend next year. Example: Can you take inventory tonight so we can be ready for the rush tomorrow?

Synonym Usage

See list ¹.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• preinventory
  noun
• inventoriable
  adjective
• inventorial
  adjective
• overinventoried
  adjective
• inventorially
  adverb

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• inventories
  plural

Participles

• inventorying
  present
• inventoried
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• inventory
  simple
• inventories
  simple
• have inventoried
  perfect
• has inventoried
  perfect
• am inventorying
  progressive
• are inventorying
  progressive
• is inventorying
  progressive
• have been inventorying
  perfect progressive
• has been inventorying
  perfect progressive

Past

• inventoried
  simple
• had inventoried
  perfect
• was inventorying
  progressive
• were inventorying
  progressive
• had been inventorying
  perfect progressive

Future

• will inventory
  simple
• will have inventoried
  perfect
• will be inventorying
  progressive
• will have been inventorying
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of inventory

First recorded in 1375–1425; late Middle English inventorie, from Medieval Latin inventōrium; see invent, -tory ²

Explanation

An inventory is an itemized list of everything you have. So you better take inventory of what’s in the fridge before going grocery shopping. Otherwise you'll end up with more jars of mustard that you don't need. The noun form of inventory developed in the early 15th century from the Middle French inventaire, meaning “detailed list of goods.” It's most commonly used in retail: a shop's inventory is everything that they have in stock, ready to sell. You can also use inventory as a verb when you want to describe the act of listing out the merchandise or supplies you have on hand.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

inventory inventories inventoried inventorying

But smaller businesses that often pay tariffs through FedEx, DHL and UPS have had to wait longer to put the funds back into payroll, inventory and capital expenses.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 5, 2026

“Retailers that successfully provide product catalogs, inventory feeds, merchant data, store information, reviews and other structured content to AI agents may gain a significant advantage,” the analysts said.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 5, 2026

Michelle Min began designing her own clothing and accessories, “and eventually the entire inventory became her stuff, and that’s where it all started.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 4, 2026

Retailers with hesitations cite concerns over controlling consumer data, the customer experience, fraudulent purchases and inventory hoarding.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 2, 2026

I grabbed it and placed it in my inventory.

From "Ready Player One: A Novel" by Ernest Cline

More than 1 billion barrels of oil have been drawn, mostly from onshore commercial inventories, to offset the shortfall, said Aramco’s Nasser.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 5, 2026

Ghali thinks the two countries will have removed about 70% of global inventories from circulation by year-end.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 1, 2026

That means “persistence is critical,” with a sustained increase in prices more likely to work its way through contracts, inventories and supply chains into consumer prices, they said.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 1, 2026

U.S. crude inventories also unexpectedly rose last week.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 1, 2026

Many guardians would purchase, for their wards, goods from their own stores or inventories at inflated prices.

From "Killers of the Flower Moon" by David Grann

The repeal will primarily affect California and nine other Western states, which are home to more than 95% of inventoried roadless areas, the agency said.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 18, 2026

The proposal would rescind the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule, enacted in the final days of the Clinton administration, which barred development across vast areas of public forests and grasslands designated as "inventoried roadless areas."

From Barron's ● Aug. 18, 2026

A suspect isn’t supposed to take belongings from a crime scene before the items are inspected and inventoried.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 5, 2026

Repairing and updating the inventoried aircraft so they are airworthy takes about the same amount of resources as building an all-new aircraft, he added.

From Seattle Times ● Feb. 13, 2024

When we got to Beechwood in late June, Bess had already inventoried Gran’s Boston possessions and now began with those in Clairmont.

From "We Were Liars" by E. Lockhart

The plan provides for the inventorying and storage of its remaining heavy weapons under Palestinian supervision, potentially removing the most significant obstacle to advancing the Trump-backed peace initiative for Gaza.

From BBC ● Jul. 31, 2026

"Carbon inventorying is still an evolving science," said Yunyu Zhang, lead author and graduate student from the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

From Science Daily ● Mar. 28, 2024

One by one, family members and friends speak this line to Vanya before inventorying their own monumental unhappiness.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 24, 2023

I was squatting on the floor methodically inventorying my bounty to help streamline thank-you-card writing when my mother-in-law, who was visiting from Chennai, beckoned me over to our galley kitchen.

From Salon ● Nov. 30, 2021

He looks me over as if inventorying my whole being.

From "I'll Give You the Sun" by Jandy Nelson

Related Words

• backlog
• fund
• index
• reserve
• stockpile
• supply