innovation
noun
Did you know?
What is the difference between innovation and invention?
The words innovation and invention overlap semantically but are really quite distinct.
Invention can refer to a type of musical composition, a falsehood, a discovery, or any product of the imagination. The sense of invention most likely to be confused with innovation is “a device, contrivance, or process originated after study and experiment,” usually something which has not previously been in existence.
Innovation, for its part, can refer to something new or to a change made to an existing product, idea, or field. One might say that the first telephone was an invention, the first cellular telephone either an invention or an innovation, and the first smartphone an innovation.
Examples of innovation in a Sentence
Alexandra Harrell, Sourcing Journal, 3 Oct. 2025
That saturation, according to Marcus and others, has less to do with AI’s breakthroughs and more to do with the way companies have stripped out human labor under the guise of innovation.
—Jesus Mesa, MSNBC Newsweek, 3 Oct. 2025
For years, gamers have criticized EA’s lack of innovation and aggressive monetization tactics.
—Lim Hui Jie, CNBC, 3 Oct. 2025
This led to experiments involving anthropologists, culinary innovators and food scientists, food innovation researcher Nabila Rodríguez Valerón told CNN.
—Amarachi Orie, CNN Money, 3 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for innovation
Cite this Entry
“Innovation.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/innovation. Accessed 4 Oct. 2025.
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innovation
noun
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