inventory

noun, verb — 6 senses

inventory

noun

UK /ˈɪn.vən.tɹi/ · CA, US /ˈɪn.vənˌtɔɹ.i/

Etymology From Middle English inventorie, from Medieval Latin inventōrium, alteration of Late Latin inventārium, from Latin inveniō (“to find out”).

1

The stock of an item on hand at a particular location or business.

  • Due to an undersized inventory at the Boston outlet, customers had to travel to Providence to find the item.
2

A detailed list of all of the items on hand.

  • The inventory included several items that one wouldn't normally think to find at a cheese shop.
3

The process of producing or updating such a list.

  • This month's inventory took nearly three days.
4

A space containing the items available to a character, especially in a video game, for immediate use.

  • You can't get through the underground tunnel if there are more than three items in your inventory.
  • From the inventory tab you have the option to use the mobile phone or check out gadgets you have collected.2008, “PDA”, in Cory in the House: Instruction Booklet, Burbank, California: Disney Interactive Studios; Nintendo, page 11:
5

Human sciences, Linguistics, Phonology, Sciences Especially The total set of a (specified) linguistic feature (within a language etc.)

  • Germanic languages have a marked tendency towards large vocalic inventories.
  • Most final consonants have been lost, resulting in a tonal language with a rich consonantal and vocalic inventory, but with a relatively simple syllabic structure..2014, Guillaume Jacques, “V: Cone”, in Jackson Sun, editor, Phonological Profiles of Little-Studied Tibetic Varieties, Taipei: Academia Sinica, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 270:
Derived terms
ad inventory, benefit of inventory, bioinventory, interest inventory, inventoriable, inventorial, inventoryless, inventory management, inventory Tetris, inventory tetris, noninventory, overinventoried, periodic inventory, perpetual inventory, personality inventory, preinventory, reinventory, subinventory, underinventoried
Related terms
invent, invented, invention, inventive, inventor, reinvent

inventory

verb

Etymology From Middle English inventorie, from Medieval Latin inventōrium, alteration of Late Latin inventārium, from Latin inveniō (“to find out”).

1

To take stock of the resources or items on hand; to produce an inventory.

  • The main job of the night shift was to inventory the store, and restock when necessary.
  • ‘Now,’ said Jethro, ‘we’re inventorying all the stock today, do you want to lend a hand?’2024, Jasper Fforde, Red Side Story, Hodder & Stoughton, page 235:
Synonyms
index, inventorize, take inventory, take stock

Entry derived from the Wiktionary, under licence CC BY-SA 4.0 — list of authors.

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