# invent

Pronunciation: say "in-VENT" /ɪnˈvɛnt/

## Verb

1. To design a new process, device, or mechanism that did not exist before.
   - Simple: To think of and make something completely new, like a machine or a way of doing things.
   - _Engineers at the plant invent new processes to cut waste and speed up production._
   - _Edison invented the phonograph in 1877._
2. To make up something fictional, such as a story, character, or excuse, to serve a particular purpose.
   - Simple: To make up a story, name, or excuse that is not real.
   - _The novelist invented an entire language for her fantasy world._
   - _Witnesses under pressure sometimes invent details to make their accounts sound more convincing._

## Verb

3. To come upon, find, or discover something. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: To find or discover something while searching or by chance.

## Origin

This word came into Middle English as inventen, borrowed from Old French inventer, from Latin inventus, the perfect passive participle of inveniō ("come upon, meet with, find, discover"), which combines in ("in, on") with veniō ("come"). It displaced the native Old English āþenċan, literally "to think out."

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/invent (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).