invent
verb (used with object)
to originate or create as a product of one's own ingenuity, experimentation, or contrivance.
were 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.
We should ask ourselves, honestly: if we were inventing the BBC today, what would we do?
From BBC ● May 18, 2026
The behavior spread so far so quickly that scientists considered it unlikely that individual birds across a continent were inventing this trick on their own.
From Science Daily ● Nov. 14, 2024
“When you think about the ’50s and the ’60s, when we were inventing all these new things, there’s a piece of American history in there.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 24, 2024
When I was out working on the equipment and designing things, I worked with brilliant mechanical people that had high school graduates that were inventing all kinds of mechanical equipment.
From Salon ● Nov. 8, 2023
In effect, the leadership of the revolutionary generation lacked a vocabulary adequate to describe the politics they were inventing.
From "Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation" by Joseph J. Ellis
