Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
And later, in 1853, the U.S. patent office denied Hunt’s belated application for his 1830s sewing-machine invention.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 12, 2026
Attorney Kevin Yorn, who represents McConaughey, said the aim of filing with the patent office was "to make sure that our clients have the same kind of protections that their businesses have."
From Barron's • Jan. 15, 2026
After lower courts sided with the patent office, Thaler took his appeal to the Supreme Court, where a panel of judges unanimously dismissed the case.
From Seattle Times • Dec. 20, 2023
The fight with MGH’s patent office dragged on for years, long after the patents were licensed to drug company Novo Nordisk and it was deep in its GLP-1 drug development program.
From Science Magazine • Sep. 8, 2023
Out of money, he took a temporary position at the Swiss patent office, a far cry from the assistantship at a university that he wanted.
From "Zero: The Biography of a Dangerous Idea" by Charles Seife
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.
