INVENT

invent, contrive, devise, excogitate, formulate, forge

(verb) come up with (an idea, plan, explanation, theory, or principle) after a mental effort; “excogitate a way to measure the speed of light”

fabricate, manufacture, cook up, make up, invent

(verb) concoct something artificial or untrue

Source: WordNet® 3.1

Etymology

Verb

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

To design a new process or mechanism.

To create something fictional for a particular purpose.

Synonym: make up

(obsolete) To come upon; to find; to discover.

Synonyms

• fangle

Source: Wiktionary

In*vent", v. t. [imp. & p. p. Invented; p. pr. & vb. n. Inventing.] Etym: [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.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition