invent

UK: /ɪnˈvɛnt/ US: /ɪnˈvɛnt/ ,(in vent′)

WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2025

in•vent /ɪnˈvɛnt/   v. [~ + object]

1. to produce for the first time, as a result of one's own ingenuity and effort:
   Edison is usually credited with inventing the light bulb.
2. to make up or think up (something false):
   quick at inventing excuses

in•ven•tor, n. [countable] See -ven-.
Synonyms

See discover.

WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2025

in•vent  (in vent′), v.t. 

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.

• Latin inventus, past participle of invenīre to encounter, come upon, find, equivalent. to in- in-² + ven(īre) to come + -tus past participle suffix
• late Middle English invented (past participle) found, discovered (see -ed²) 1425–75

in•vent′i•ble, in•vent′a•ble, adj. 
Synonyms

• 1. devise, contrive. See discover. 
• 2. imagine, conceive.
• 3. concoct.

Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::

invent / ɪnˈvɛnt/ verb

1. to create or devise (new ideas, machines, etc)
2. to make up (falsehoods); fabricate

Etymology: 15th Century: from Latin invenīre to find, come upon, from in-² + venīre to come

inˈventible, inˈventable adjective