invent

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.

• IPA^(key): /ɪnˈvɛnt/

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• Rhymes: -ɛnt

invent (third-person singular simple present invents, present participle inventing, simple past and past participle invented)

1. To design a new process or mechanism.

   After weeks of hard work, I invented a new way to alphabetize matchbooks.

2. 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

3. (obsolete) To come upon; to find; to discover.
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, I.vi:

     Far off he wonders, what them makes so glad, / If Bacchus merry fruit they did inuent [...].

• fangle
• discover

• invent in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• invent in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

invent m (plural invents)

1. invention

• invenció

• inventar

• “invent” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.