invention
nounUK /ɪnˈvɛnʃən/
Etymology From Middle English invencion, invencioun, from Latin inventiō either directly or via Middle French invencion, from Latin invenīre (“to discover, find, invent”), from in- (“in-: in, into”) + venīre (“to come”). Doublet of inventio. By surface analysis, invent + -ion. Displaced native Old English orþanc.
1
Something invented.
- My new invention will let you alphabetize your matchbook collection in half the usual time.
- I’m afraid there was no burglar. It was all the housekeeper’s invention.
2 more examples
- Warren Sheffield is telephoning Rose long distance at half past six. […] Personally, I wouldn't marry a man who proposed to me over an invention.1944 November 28, Irving Brecher and Fred F. Finklehoffe, Meet Me in St. Louis, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
- British inventions have done more to influence the shape of the modern world than those of any other country. Many—football, the steam engine and Worcestershire sauce, to take a random selection—have spread pleasure, goodwill and prosperity. Others—the Maxim gun, the Shrapnel shell and jellied eels—have not.2013 October 5, “The widening gyre”, in The Economist, volume 409, number 8856, London: The Economist Group, →ISSN, →OCLC:
2
The act of inventing.
- The invention of the printing press was probably the most significant innovation of the medieval ages.
- Invention, or the Genius of Hiſtoricizing and framing a Noble Idea upon the Subject one vvould Paint, is a particular Talent, not to be acquir'd by Study or Labour; but is properly a certain ardor exciting the Imagination, prompting and enabling it to Act.1668, Roland Freart [i.e., Roland Fréart de Chambray], “Of Invention”, in John Evelyn, transl., An Idea of the Perfection of Painting: […], In the Savoy [London]: […] Henry Herringman […], →OCLC, page 11:
1 more example
- Digging deeper, the invention of eyeglasses is an elaboration of the more fundamental development of optics technology. The ability of a segment of a glass sphere to magnify whatever is placed before it was known around the year 1000, when the spherical segment was called a reading stone,[…].2013 September-October, Henry Petroski, “The Evolution of Eyeglasses”, in American Scientist:
3
The capacity to invent.
- It took quite a bit of invention to come up with a plan, but we did it.
4
Entertainment, Lifestyle, Music A small, self-contained composition, particularly those in J.S. Bach’s Two- and Three-part Inventions.
- I particularly like the inventions in C-minor.
- INVENTION. A term used by J. S. Bach, and probably by him only, for small pianoforte pieces — 15 in 2 parts and 15 in 3 parts — each developing a single idea, and in some measure answering to the Impromptu of a later day.1880, George Grove (editor and entry author), A Dictionary of Music and Musicians II, London: Macmillan & Co., page 15, Invention
5
Archaic The act of discovering or finding; the act of finding out; discovery.
- That judicial method which serveth best for the invention of truth.
- Synonyms
- discovery
- Derived terms
- coinvention, innovention, inventioneer, inventionism, inventionist, Invention of the Cross, necessity is the mother of invention, preinvention, reinvention, uninvention