invent definition | Dictionary.com

in⋅vent

[in-vent]

–verb (used with object)

1.	to originate or create as a product of one's own ingenuity, experimentation, or contrivance: to invent the telegraph.

2.	to produce or create with the imagination: to invent a story.

3.	to make up or fabricate (something fictitious or false): to invent excuses.

4.	Archaic. to come upon; find.

Origin:
1425–75; late ME invented (ptp.) found, discovered (see -ed ² ) < L inventus, ptp. of invenīre to encounter, come upon, find, equiv. to in- in- ² + ven(īre) to come + -tus ptp. suffix

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.

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Language Translation for : invent

Spanish:

inventar,

German:

erfinden,

Japanese:

発明する

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in·vent (ĭn-věnt') Pronunciation Key
tr.v. in·vent·ed, in·vent·ing, in·vents

To produce or contrive (something previously unknown) by the use of ingenuity or imagination.
To make up; fabricate: invent a likely excuse.

[Latin invenīre, invent-, to find : in-, on, upon; see in-² + venīre, to come; see g^wā- in Indo-European roots.]
in·vent'i·ble adj., in·ven'tor n.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

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invent
verb
1.	come up with (an idea, plan, explanation, theory, or principle) after a mental effort; "excogitate a way to measure the speed of light"
2.	make up something artificial or untrue [syn: fabricate]

WordNet® 3.0, © 2006 by Princeton University.

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Main Entry: in·vent
Function: transitive verb
: to create or produce for the first time —in·ven·tor noun

Merriam-Webster's Dictionary of Law, © 1996 Merriam-Webster, Inc.

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Invent

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