invent
verb (used with object)
to originate or create as a product of one's own ingenuity, experimentation, or contrivance.
was inventing
-
past progressiveof invent.past progressive
Used to describe an ongoing action or continuous state that was happening at a specific time in the past.
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.
While Europe was inventing newspapers, Mughal India had its own news network.
From BBC ● Jun. 27, 2026
He claimed that no true “moment of threat” doctrine existed and that the petitioner was inventing a label to distort the 5th Circuit’s reasoning.
From Slate ● Apr. 15, 2025
With each new novel, Christie was inventing and reinventing, and flipping the script on what a murder mystery could be.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 4, 2023
“This was all about invention: Esperanza was inventing, Wayne was inventing, and I got to invent alongside of them,” Gehry, 92, said in an interview.
From New York Times ● Nov. 2, 2021
He paced, paused, spoke, and paced behind his palm-leaf altar, giving every impression he was inventing his Biblical parables on the spot.
From "The Poisonwood Bible" by Barbara Kingsolver
