From Middle English inventen, borrowed from Old French inventer, from Latin inventus, perfect passive participle of inveniō ("come upon, meet with, find, discover"), from in ("in, on") + veniō ("come"); see venture.

Displaced native Old English āþenċan (literally “to think out”).

• IPA: /ɪnˈvɛnt/

invent (invents, present participle inventing; simple past and past participle invented)

1. To design a new process or mechanism.

   After weeks of hard work, I invented a new way to alphabetize matchbooks.

   • c. 1587–1588, [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC ↗; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire, London: Scolar Press, 1973, →ISBN, Act II, scene iv ↗:

     Accurſt be he that firſt inuented war

2. To create something fictional for a particular purpose.

   Synonyms: make up

   I knew I had to invent an excuse, and quickly.

   We need a name to put in this form, so let's just invent one.

3. (obsolete) To come upon; to find; to discover.
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book I, Canto IV”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC ↗:

     Far off he wonders, what them makes so glad, / If Bacchus merry fruit they did inuent [...].

• fangle

• invented
• inventive
• invention
• inventor
• inventory
• reinvent

• French: inventer
• German: erfinden
• Italian: inventare
• Portuguese: inventar
• Russian: изобрета́ть
• Spanish: inventar

• French: inventer
• German: ausdenken, erfinden
• Italian: creare, ideare
• Russian: выду́мывать
• Spanish: inventar