invent
EnglishEdit
EtymologyEdit
From Middle English inventen, borrowed from Old French inventer, from Latin inventus, perfect passive participle of inveniō (“come upon, meet with, find, discover”), from in (“in, on”) + veniō (“come”); see venture. Compare advent, covent, event, prevent, etc.
PronunciationEdit
VerbEdit
invent (third-person singular simple present invents, present participle inventing, simple past and past participle invented)
- To design a new process or mechanism.
- After weeks of hard work, I invented a new way to alphabetize matchbooks.
- c. 1587–1588, [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], part 1, 2nd edition, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, OCLC 932920499; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire; London: Scolar Press, 1973, →ISBN, Act II, scene iv:
- Accurſt be he that firſt inuented war
- To create something fictional for a particular purpose.
- I knew I had to invent an excuse, and quickly.
- We need a name to put in this form, so let's just invent one.
- Synonym: make up
- (obsolete) To come upon; to find; to discover.
- 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Qveene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for VVilliam Ponsonbie, OCLC 960102938, book 1, canto 4:
- Far off he wonders, what them makes so glad, / If Bacchus merry fruit they did inuent [...].
SynonymsEdit
See alsoEdit
Related termsEdit
TranslationsEdit
design a new process or mechanism
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create something fictional
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- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked
Further readingEdit
- “invent” in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
- “invent” in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
CatalanEdit
PronunciationEdit
NounEdit
invent m (plural invents)
Related termsEdit
Further readingEdit
- “invent” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
- “invent”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2022
- “invent” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
- “invent” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.