invent
Americanverb (used with object)
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to originate or create as a product of one's own ingenuity, experimentation, or contrivance.
to invent the telegraph.
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to produce or create with the imagination.
to invent a story.
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to make up or fabricate (something fictitious or false).
to invent excuses.
- Synonyms:
- concoct
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Archaic. to come upon; find.
verb
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to create or devise (new ideas, machines, etc)
-
to make up (falsehoods); fabricate
Related Words
See discover.
Other Word Forms
- inventable adjective
- inventible adjective
- outinvent verb (used with object)
- preinvent verb (used with object)
- self-invented adjective
- uninvented adjective
- well-invented adjective
Etymology
Origin of invent
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
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.
Some are shocked by the admission that he invented aspects of his mentor’s past for his article, while others think the ambiguity is exactly what Thomas would have wanted.
One early smart machine was the Mark I Perceptron, an “artificial brain,” invented in 1958 by the psychologist Frank Rosenblatt, that could learn to classify simple patterns, such as geometric shapes and handwritten letters.
Ships using this route must pay a substantial fee, according to maritime data company Lloyd's List Intelligence, which invented its nickname.
From Barron's
It was only in the course of appealing the family court ruling did Torres Campos’ lawyer mention that the two cited precedents were “invented case law.”
From Los Angeles Times
Many have expressed fears of an Orwellian-style forever war, or worse, the use of the atomic weapon invented “to end all wars” in a twisted attempt to do so, poisoning the region as a byproduct.
From Los Angeles Times
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.
