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/ɪnvˈɛnt/ Listen

verb

Invent v. t. (past & past part. invented; pres. part. inventing)

To come or light upon; to meet; to find. (Obs.) "And vowed never to return again, Till him alive or dead she did invent."

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."

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." "He had invented some circumstances, and put the worst possible construction on others."

Synonyms: To discover; contrive; devise; frame; design; fabricate; concoct; elaborate. See Discover.

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Etymology of 'Invent'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Invent" Quotes from Famous Books

... Dreamers make no confidences; they shrivel up into themselves and are caught away on the four winds of heaven. Politics drive them mad; gossip fails to interest them; the sorrows they create have no remedy save the joys that they invent; they are natural only when alone, and talk ...

— The Ink-Stain, Complete • Rene Bazin

... surprise. Never in that teacher's experience had he taught a more brilliant pupil. Miss Thompson looked with interest at the algebra papers. If this had not come up, she thought, Miss Leece would certainly have managed to find a flaw somewhere, even if she had had to invent one. But under the circumstances, it was more to that wily woman's purpose to give Anne her due. For Miss Leece knew that a perfect examination paper would tell more against the young ...

— Grace Harlowe's Plebe Year at High School - The Merry Doings of the Oakdale Freshmen Girls • Jessie Graham Flower

... be it remembered, is virtually the age. It is for him the studious think, the imaginative invent, the tuneful sing: beyond him there is no appeal but to the future. He is superstitious, as we have seen, but his gods are few and traditional. He determines to make a stand somewhere; and it is necessary for him to do so, if he would not encumber his ...

— Chambers's Edinburgh Journal, No. 448 - Volume 18, New Series, July 31, 1852 • Various

... heart is still more susceptible of impressions; and where the unfeeling mind, in the want of other men's wit to invent, forms schemes for its own amusement—our youths both fell in love: if passions, that were pursued on the most opposite principles, can receive the same appellation. William, well versed in all ...

— Nature and Art • Mrs. Inchbald

... name: But is it not doubly and trebly aggravated, when such advantage is taken of an unexperienced and innocent young creature, whom we pretend to love above all the women in the world; and when we seal our pretences by the most solemn vows and protestations of inviolable honour that we can invent? ...

— Clarissa, Or The History Of A Young Lady, Volume 8 • Samuel Richardson

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