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See the Origin of Ideate
Like idea and ideal, ideate comes from the Greek verb idein, which means "to see." The sight-thought connection came courtesy of Plato, the Greek philosopher who based his theory of the ideal on the concept of seeing, claiming that a true philosopher can see the essential nature of things and can recognize their ideal form or state. Early uses of idea, ideal, and ideate in English were associated with Platonic philosophy; idea meant "an archetype" or "a standard of perfection," ideal meant "existing as an archetype," and ideate referred to forming Platonic ideas. But though ideate is tied to ancient philosophy, the word itself is a modern concoction, relatively speaking. It first appeared in English only about 400 years ago.
Synonyms
Examples of ideate in a Sentence
Essence, 6 July 2024
Most of the brand’s leadership team is female, including its founder and chief executive officer, Sylvia Fu, who Li said began as an assistant to Shein founder and CEO, Chris Xu, and ideated SheGlam shortly after leaving the company for a brief stint in venture capital.
—Noor Lobad, WWD, 3 Sep. 2019
Hence his desire to ideate his own brand began to grow.
—Kerane Marcellus, Essence, 17 Apr. 2024
And this tool allows people to ideate and create in new ways.
—Scott Roxborough, The Hollywood Reporter, 10 Apr. 2024
See all Example Sentences for ideate 
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'ideate.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Dictionary Entries Near ideate
Cite this Entry
“Ideate.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ideate. Accessed 26 Jul. 2024.
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