Adjacent Words

Invent definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

INVENT', v.t. [L. invenio, inventum; in and venio, to come; literally, to come to, to fall on, to meet, Eng. to find.]
1. To find out something new; to devise something not before known; to contrive and produce something that did not before exist; as, to invent a new instrument of music; to invent a machine for spinning; to invent gunpowder. [See Invention.]
2. To forge; to fabricate; to contrive falsely; as, to invent falsehoods.
3. To feign; to frame by the imagination; as, to invent the machinery of a poem.
4. To light on; to meet with. [This is the literal sense, but not now used.]

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

v
1: come up with (an idea, plan, explanation, theory, or principle) after a mental effort; "excogitate a way to measure the speed of light" [syn: invent, contrive, devise, excogitate, formulate, forge]
2: make up something artificial or untrue [syn: fabricate, manufacture, cook up, make up, invent]

Merriam Webster's

transitive verb Etymology: Middle English, from Latin inventus, past participle of invenire to come upon, find, from in- + venire to come — more at come Date: 15th century 1. archaic find, discover 2. to devise by thinking ; fabricate 3. to produce (as something useful) for the first time through the use of the imagination or of ingenious thinking and experiment • inventor noun • inventress noun

Oxford Reference Dictionary

v.tr. 1 create by thought, devise; originate (a new method, an instrument, etc.). 2 concoct (a false story etc.). Derivatives: inventable adj. Etymology: ME, = discover, f. L invenire invent- find, contrive (as IN-(2), venire vent- come)

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Invent In*vent", v. t. [imp. & p. p. Invented; p. pr. & vb. n. Inventing.] [L. inventus, p. p. of invenire to come upon, to find, invent; pref. in- in + venire to come, akin to E. come: cf. F. inventer. See Come.] 1. To come or light upon; to meet; to find. [Obs.] And vowed never to return again, Till him alive or dead she did invent. --Spenser. 2. To discover, as by study or inquiry; to find out; to devise; to contrive or produce for the first time; -- applied commonly to the discovery of some serviceable mode, instrument, or machine. Thus first Necessity invented stools. --Cowper. 3. To frame by the imagination; to fabricate mentally; to forge; -- in a good or a bad sense; as, to invent the machinery of a poem; to invent a falsehood. Whate'er his cruel malice could invent. --Milton. He had invented some circumstances, and put the worst possible construction on others. --Sir W. Scott. Syn: To discover; contrive; devise; frame; design; fabricate; concoct; elaborate. See Discover.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(invents, inventing, invented) 1. If you invent something such as a machine or process, you are the first person to think of it or make it. He invented the first electric clock... VERB: V n 2. If you invent a story or excuse, you try to make other people believe that it is true when in fact it is not. I stood still, trying to invent a plausible excuse. VERB: V n

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

v. a. 1. Contrive (what did not before exist), devise, be the first to contrive or devise. 2. Originate, create, frame, imagine, excogitate, conceive, concoct. 3. Fabricate, forge, coin.

Moby Thesaurus

beget, break ground, break the ice, breed, bring forth, bring into being, call into being, coin, conceit, conceive, conceptualize, concoct, contrive, cook up, counterfeit, create, design, determine, develop, devise, discover, dream up, engender, envision, evolve, experience imaginatively, fabricate, fake, fancy, fantasize, fictionalize, find, find out, forge, formulate, frame, fudge, generate, get, give being to, give rise to, hatch, hatch up, head, head up, hit, hit upon, hoke up, hunt down, ideate, imagine, improvise, inaugurate, initiate, innovate, introduce, introduce new blood, lead, lead off, lead the way, locate, make do with, make innovations, make up, manufacture, mature, mint, mold, neologize, neoterize, originate, pioneer, plan, precede, procreate, produce, rediscover, renew, renovate, revolutionize, run down, run to earth, shape, spawn, stand first, strike, strike out, suppose, take the initiative, take the lead, take the plunge, think out, think up, trace, trace down, track down, trump up, turn out, vamp up