invent

invent
invent 1 *contrive, devise, frame, concoct
Analogous words: initiate, inaugurate (see BEGIN): institute, *found, establish
2 Invent, create, discover are comparable terms frequently confused in the sense of to bring into being something new.
Invent (see also CONTRIVE) may stress fabrication of something new through the exercise of the imagination
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a poet is a maker, as the word signifies: and he who cannot make, that is, invent, hath his name for nothing— Dryden

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his fund of knowledge seemed inexhaustible, for what he didn't know he inventedAlvin Redman

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the little stories she had invented for her two small daughters— Current Biog.

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or it may stress the fabrication of something new and often useful as a result of study and thought; the word therefore often presupposes labor and ingenuity rather than inspiration
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if the Semitic letters were not derived from Egypt they must have been invented by the Phoenicians— Clodd

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However, invent often stresses the finding, as well as the bringing into being, of something new or hitherto unknown as the result of mental effort
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physicists had to save the laws of conservation of energy and conservation of angular momentum ... a new particle had to be invented—Marshak

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she was tired of inventing means for making the days and nights pleasant and capriciously variable for others— Van Vechten

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Create stresses a causing of something to exist; it not only implies previous nonexistence but it often suggests an evoking of something into being out of, or as if out of, nothing (as by fiat, by an act of the will, or by inspiration)
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God created the heaven and the earth— Gen 1:1

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the law creates rights

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the king created an earldom for his favorite

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to this strange force within him, to this power that created his works of art, there was nothing to do but submit— Huxley

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I do not believe that a sense of justice is innate, but I have been astonished to see how quickly it can be createdRussell

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modern science, which created this dilemma, is also capable of solving it— Bliven b. 1889

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Discover (see also DISCOVER 2 ; REVEAL) presupposes both the existence of and a lack of knowledge about something; the term therefore implies the finding of such a thing, often as the result of mental or physical effort (as by exploration, investigation, or experiment)
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remains of this Belgic culture have often been discoveredJacquetta & Christopher Hawkes

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men who were fighting Communism long before McCarthy ever discovered it— Davis

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William Harvey discovered the circulation of the blood

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Thus, in discriminative use one invents processes or ways of doing something, as well as instruments, tools, implements, or machines, but one discovers things which exist but have not yet been known (as lands, stars, or natural laws)
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Newton invented the differential and the integral calculus . . . and discovered the laws of motion— Darrow

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Analogous words: fabricate, fashion, form, shape, forge, *make: imagine, conceive, envision (see THINK): design, project, plan, plot, scheme (see under PLAN n): produce, turn out (see BEAR)

New Dictionary of Synonyms. 2014.

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  • Invent — In*vent , v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Invented}; p. pr. & vb. n. {Inventing}.] [L. inventus, p. p. of invenire to come upon, to find, invent; pref. in in + venire to come, akin to E. come: cf. F. inventer. See {Come}.] [1913 Webster] 1. To come or light …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • invent — in‧vent [ɪnˈvent] verb [transitive] 1. to make, design or produce something new or a new way of doing something: • Percy Spencer invented the microwave oven. • Mr. Monaghan virtually invented the modern pizza delivery business when he founded… …   Financial and business terms

  • invent — in·vent vt: to create or produce for the first time in·ven·tor n Merriam Webster’s Dictionary of Law. Merriam Webster. 1996. invent …   Law dictionary

  • invent — [v1] create, think up ad lib, author, bear, bring into being, coin, come upon, come up with, compose, conceive, contrive, cook up*, design, devise, discover, dream up, envision, execute, fake, fashion, find, forge, form, formulate, frame, hatch,… …   New thesaurus

  • invent — [in vent′] vt. [ME inventen < L inventus, pp. of invenire, to come upon, meet with, discover < in , in, on + venire, to COME] 1. to think up; devise or fabricate in the mind [to invent excuses] 2. to think out or produce (a new device,… …   English World dictionary

  • invent — (v.) late 15c., find, discover, a back formation from invention or else from L. inventus, pp. of invenire “to come upon; devise, discover” (see INVENTION (Cf. invention)). Meaning make up, think up is from 1530s, as is that of produce by… …   Etymology dictionary

  • invent — ► VERB 1) create or design (a new device, process, etc.). 2) make up (a false story, name, etc.). DERIVATIVES inventor noun. ORIGIN Latin invenire contrive, discover …   English terms dictionary

  • invent */*/ — UK [ɪnˈvent] / US verb [transitive] Word forms invent : present tense I/you/we/they invent he/she/it invents present participle inventing past tense invented past participle invented Collocations: If you are the first person to make a new type of …   English dictionary

  • invent — inventible, inventable, adj. /in vent /, v.t. 1. to originate or create as a product of one s own ingenuity, experimentation, or contrivance: to invent the telegraph. 2. to produce or create with the imagination: to invent a story. 3. to make up… …   Universalium

  • invent — [[t]ɪnve̱nt[/t]] invents, inventing, invented 1) VERB If you invent something such as a machine or process, you are the first person to think of it or make it. [V n] He invented the first electric clock... [V n] Writing had not been invented as… …   English dictionary

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