patent

[ pat-nt or, for 10, 13-15, 17, peyt-; especially British peyt-nt ]
See synonyms for: patentpatentedpatentingpatently on Thesaurus.com

noun
  1. the exclusive right granted by a government to an inventor to manufacture, use, or sell an invention for a certain number of years.

  2. an invention or process protected by an exclusive right to manufacture, use, or sell it.

  1. an official document conferring on the inventor the exclusive right to manufacture, use, or sell an invention; letters patent.

  2. Law. the instrument by which the government of the United States conveys the legal fee-simple title to public land.

adjectivepa·tent [peyt-nt] /ˈpeɪt nt/ (for 10, 13-15, 17)
  1. protected by an exclusive right given to an inventor to manufacture, use, or sell an invention; patented: a patent cooling device.

  2. relating to, concerned with, or dealing with the granting of exclusive rights to sell or manufacture something, especially inventions: a patent attorney;patent law.

  1. (of a right, privilege, etc.) conferred by a patent.

  2. holding an exclusive right to manufacture, use, or sell an invention.

  3. readily open to notice or observation; evident; obvious: She turned her nose up at me in a patent breach of good manners.

  4. made of patent leather: patent shoes.

  5. (of a medication) sold without a prescription and usually protected by an exclusive legal right to manufacture: patent remedies;patent drugs.

  6. lying open; not enclosed or shut in: a patent field.

  7. (of a doorway, passage, or the like) open.

  8. Chiefly Botany. expanded or spreading.

  9. Medicine/Medical. (of a duct or passage in the body) open or unobstructed.

  10. Phonetics. open, in various degrees, to the passage of the breath stream.

verb (used with object)
  1. to take out a patent on; obtain the exclusive rights to (an invention, process, etc.) by a patent.

  2. to originate and establish as one's own.

  1. Metallurgy. to heat and quench (wire) so as to prepare for cold-drawing.

  2. Law. to grant (public land) by a patent.

Origin of patent

1
First recorded in 1250–1300; (adjective) Middle English, from Latin patent-, stem of patēns “open, standing open,” present participle of patēre “to stand open, lie open”; (noun) Middle English, short for letters patent, translation of Medieval Latin litterae patentēs “open letters”

synonym study For patent

10. See apparent.

Other words for patent

Opposites for patent

Other words from patent

  • pat·ent·a·ble, adjective
  • pat·ent·a·bil·i·ty [pat-nt-uh-bil-i-tee], /ˌpæt nt əˈbɪl ɪ ti/, noun
  • pat·ent·a·bly, adverb
  • pa·tent·ly, adverb
  • non·pat·ent·a·bil·i·ty, noun
  • non·pat·ent·a·ble, adjective
  • non·pat·ent·ed, adjective
  • non·pat·ent·ly, adverb
  • pre·pat·ent, noun, verb (used with object)
  • un·pat·ent, adjective
  • un·pat·ent·a·bil·i·ty, noun
  • un·pat·ent·a·ble, adjective
  • un·pat·ent·ed, adjective

Words Nearby patent

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use patent in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for patent

patent

/ (ˈpætənt, ˈpeɪtənt) /


noun
    • a government grant to an inventor assuring him the sole right to make, use, and sell his invention for a limited period

    • a document conveying such a grant

  1. an invention, privilege, etc, protected by a patent

    • an official document granting a right

    • any right granted by such a document

  1. (in the US)

    • a grant by the government of title to public lands

    • the instrument by which such title is granted

    • the land so granted

  2. a sign that one possesses a certain quality

adjective
  1. open or available for inspection (esp in the phrases letters patent, patent writ)

  2. (ˈpeɪtənt) obvious: their scorn was patent to everyone

  1. concerning protection, appointment, etc, of or by a patent or patents

  2. proprietary

  3. (esp of a bodily passage or duct) being open or unobstructed

  4. biology spreading out widely: patent branches

  5. (of plate glass) ground and polished on both sides

verb(tr)
  1. to obtain a patent for

  2. (in the US) to grant (public land or mineral rights) by a patent

  1. metallurgy to heat (a metal) above a transformation temperature and cool it at a rate that allows cold working

Origin of patent

1
C14: via Old French from Latin patēre to lie open; n use, short for letters patent, from Medieval Latin litterae patentes letters lying open (to public inspection)

usage For patent

The pronunciation (ˈpætənt) is heard in letters patent and Patent Office and is the usual US pronunciation for all senses. In Britain (ˈpætənt) is sometimes heard for senses 1, 2 and 3, but (ˈpeɪtənt) is commoner and is regularly used in collocations like patent leather

Derived forms of patent

  • patentable, adjective
  • patentability, noun

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012