invention

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   a creation, either a new device or process, resulting from study and experimentation

   The wheel was an invention that had a huge impact on humanity.

2. 2
   noun

   Something invented.

   My new invention will let you alphabetize your matchbook collection in half the usual time.

3. 3
   noun

   The act of inventing.

   The invention of the printing press was probably the most significant innovation of the medieval ages.

4. 4
   noun

   The capacity to invent.

   It took quite a bit of invention to come up with a plan, but we did it.

5. 5
   noun

   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.

6. 6
   noun

   The act of discovering or finding; the act of finding out; discovery.

   That judicial method which serveth best for the invention of truth.

7. 7
   noun

   the act of inventing

8. 8
   noun

   the creation of something in the mind

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.