- a person who invents, esp as a profession
WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2026
in•ven•tor
(in ven′tər),USA pronunciation n.
- Lawmakinga person who invents, esp. one who devises some new process, appliance, machine, or article;
one who makes inventions.
- Latin; see invent, -tor
- 1500–10
Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::
inventor /ɪnˈvɛntə/ n
in•vent /ɪnˈvɛnt/USA pronunciation
v. [~ + object]
WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2026- to produce for the first time, as a result of one's own ingenuity and effort:Edison is usually credited with inventing the light bulb.
- to make up or think up (something false):quick at inventing excuses
- See discover.
in•vent
(in vent′),USA pronunciation v.t.
in•vent′i•ble, in•vent′a•ble, adj.
- to originate or create as a product of one's own ingenuity, experimentation, or contrivance:to invent the telegraph.
- to produce or create with the imagination:to invent a story.
- to make up or fabricate (something fictitious or false):to invent excuses.
- [Archaic.]to come upon;
find.
- Latin inventus, past participle of invenīre to encounter, come upon, find, equivalent. to in- in-2 + ven(īre) to come + -tus past participle suffix
- late Middle English invented (past participle) found, discovered (see -ed2) 1425–75
- 1. devise, contrive. See discover. 2. imagine, conceive. 3. concoct.
'inventor' also found in these entries (note: many are not synonyms or translations):
Aldis lamp
- Archer
- Arkwright
- Babbitt metal
- Bakelite
- batiste
- baud
- Baylis
- Bell
- Biro
- Blackwood
- Bombardier
- bowser
- Braille
- Callanetics
- Cartwright
- Cockerell
- Creed
- Crompton
- Daedalus
- Dalén
- Daphnis
- De Forest
- Dolby
- Du Mont
- Dunlop
- Dyson
- Fahrenheit
- Field
- Gatling gun
- Goodyear
- Guido d'Arezzo
- Hargreaves
- heckelphone
- hermetic
- Hero
- Howe
- Ives
- Jacquard
- Jubal
- kyanize
- Laënnec
- Land
- Lawrence
- lewis
- Lippmann
- macadam
- McCormick
- Martini
- Abel