Invents

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. Creates or devises something that did not exist before
2. Comes up with or produces a new idea, device, or process
3. Forms or designs something original or novel through imagination or skill

Etymology: "Invents" is the third-person singular form of "invent," so its story is really the story of the verb. The most striking fact is that English once had a native word for the same act: Old English "āþenċan," literally "to think out," which the Middle English "inventen" displaced. The newcomer arrived from Old French "inventer," which in turn came from Latin "invenire," meaning "come upon, meet with, find, discover." That original sense was about finding things that already existed, not making new ones. The Latin verb was built from "in" ("in, on") and "venire" ("come"), the same root that gives "venture," so an invention began as something you came upon. Over the centuries the meaning shifted from discovering what was already there to devising what had never existed, which is how the verb came to mean forming something original through imagination or skill.

Synonyms: creates, develops, designs, initiates, originates

Antonyms: destroys, disregards, neglects, shuns, repudiates