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



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Word of the Day

2 May 2025

MINESHAFT

(noun) excavation consisting of a vertical or sloping passageway for finding or mining ore or for ventilating a mine


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Coffee Trivia

Some 16th-century Italian clergymen tried to ban coffee because they believed it to be “satanic.” However, Pope Clement VII loved coffee so much that he lifted the ban and had coffee baptized in 1600.

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