invent

[ in-vent ]

verb (used with object)

1. to originate or create as a product of one's own ingenuity, experimentation, or contrivance:

   to invent the telegraph.

   Synonyms: contrive, devise

2. to produce or create with the imagination:

   to invent a story.

   Synonyms: conceive, imagine

3. to make up or fabricate (something fictitious or false):

   to invent excuses.

   Synonyms: concoct

4. Archaic. to come upon; find.

invent

/ ɪnˈvɛnt /

verb

1. to create or devise (new ideas, machines, etc)
2. to make up (falsehoods); fabricate

Derived Forms

• inˈventible, adjective

Other Words From

• in·venti·ble in·venta·ble adjective
• outin·vent verb (used with object)
• prein·vent verb (used with object)
• self-in·vented adjective
• unin·vented adjective
• well-in·vented adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of invent¹

First recorded in 1425–75; back formation from late Middle English invented (past participle) “found, discovered,” from Latin invent(us) “encountered” (past participle of invenīre “to come upon, encounter, find,” from in- in- ² + venīre “to come”; come ) + -ed ²

Word History and Origins

Origin of invent¹

C15: from Latin invenīre to find, come upon, from in- ² + venīre to come

Synonym Study

See discover.

Example Sentences

Roger Penske didn’t invent motorsports.

From Los Angeles Times

If Los Angeles has a reputation for opera, it is as an outlier, a city freed from encrusted tradition and eager to invent.

From Los Angeles Times

“He didn’t invent divisive rhetoric. We have a long history with that. But he’s taken it to new heights. He stands apart from any American president in history for what he’s doing to the country. He’s a destructive, corrosive force.”

From Los Angeles Times

He needs to invent reasons to still hang about without wanting to admit that he cares, even though he does.

From Los Angeles Times

Luckily, the same system that instigated mass disease and physical and psychic atrophy can invent a market for “clean eating,” the branded backlash against factory farming’s poisoning and genetic modification of your food and soil and water and air.

From Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• bear
• come up with
• conceive
• design
• devise
• discover
• dream up
• envision
• fashion
• find
• forge
• formulate
• initiate
• originate
• produce