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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.
Examples of ideate in a Sentence
Christopher Rim, Forbes.com, 22 June 2025
The key is to shift between the roles of artist and operator with fluency—knowing when to ideate and when to deliver.
—Brent Gleeson, Forbes.com, 11 June 2025
Given the influx of questions received, when ideating the line Holloway began researching the category and was disappointed to find very little, and what was available wasn’t design- or education-driven.
—Emily Burns, Footwear News, 2 May 2025
Backgrounds, storyboards, or outlines generated by AI leave the thinking and ideating to you.
—Mary Meehan, Forbes.com, 16 Apr. 2025
See All Example Sentences for ideate
Cite this Entry
“Ideate.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ideate. Accessed 5 Jul. 2025.
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