inventor

UK: /ɪnˈvɛntə^r/ US: (in ven′tər)

WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2025

in•ven•tor  (in ven′tər), n. 

1. Lawmaking a person who invents, esp. one who devises some new process, appliance, machine, or article;
   one who makes inventions.

Also, in•vent′er. 

• Latin; see invent, -tor
• 1500–10

Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::

inventor / ɪnˈvɛntə/ noun

1. a person who invents, esp as a profession

inˈventress noun:feminine

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.