invention

noun

in·​ven·​tion in-ˈven(t)-shən 

1

a

: something invented: such as

(1)

: a device, contrivance, or process originated after study and experiment

(2)

: a product of the imagination

especially : a false conception

b

: a short keyboard composition featuring two- or three-part counterpoint

2

: the act or process of inventing

3

: productive imagination : inventiveness

4

: discovery, finding

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.

Synonyms of invention

• innovation

Examples of invention in a Sentence

The light bulb was one of the most important inventions of the 19th century.

The stories he told about his military service were just inventions.

His explanation was pure invention.

Parts of the movie were accurate, but much of it was invention.

the invention of a new product

the invention of a false story

an artist with exceptional powers of invention

Recent Examples on the Web

Even if younger postmodern artists who use the same materials as Elaine Reichek—cloth, thread—to make work that involves stitching and the like don’t know it, the eighty-two-year-old artist is the mother of their invention. —Hilton Als, New Yorker, 20 Mar. 2026

As the story goes, fresh off university and broke in 1996, Ralph Anderl, alongside friends Philipp Haffmans and Harald Gottschling, masterminded the screwless invention, decided to apply it to stainless-steel eyewear and wore some prototype pairs to a gallery event in Berlin. —Martino Carrera, Footwear News, 20 Mar. 2026

Her invention, the Pockels trough, became the basis for an instrument that helped Katharine Burr Blodgett and Irving Langmuir make discoveries in material science that quietly shape our everyday world. —Mariel Carr, Scientific American, 20 Mar. 2026

In the late ’60s, Crane’s invention was part of an emerging culture of DIY health gadgets. —thehustle.co, 20 Mar. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 4

Phrases Containing invention

• necessity is the mother of invention
• self-invention

Rhymes for invention

• attention
• contention
• convention
• declension
• detention
• dimension
• dissension
• distension
• extension
• intension
• laurentian
• prehension

Kids Definition

invention

noun

in·​ven·​tion in-ˈven-chən 

1

: something invented

especially : an original device or process

2

: an imaginary story

3

: the act, process, or power of inventing

Legal Definition

invention

noun

in·​ven·​tion

: a device, process, or discovery under U.S. patent law that is new and useful, that reflects extraordinary creative ability or skill, and that makes a distinct and recognized contribution to and advancement of science

also : the act or process of creating such an invention compare aggregation, combination, equivalent