invention

n.

1. The act or process of inventing: used a technique of her own invention.
2. A new device, method, or process developed from study and experimentation: the phonograph, an invention attributed to Thomas Edison.
3. A mental fabrication, especially a falsehood.
4. Skill in inventing; inventiveness: "the invention and sweep of the staging" (John Simon).
5. Music. A short composition developing a single theme contrapuntally.
6. A discovery; a finding.

[Middle English invencioun, scheme, plan, from Old French invencion, a finding out, from Latin inventiō, inventiōn-, inventiveness, from inventus, past participle of invenīre, to find. See invent.]

inventional in·ven'tion·al adj.

noun

1. The power or ability to invent: creativeness, creativity, ingeniousness, ingenuity, inventiveness, originality. See ability/inability, make/unmake.
2. Something invented: brainchild, contrivance, device. See machine, make/unmake.
3. Any fictitious idea accepted as part of an ideology by an uncritical group; a received idea: creation, fantasy, fiction, figment, myth. See belief/unbelief, real/imaginary.

n

Definition: creation, creativeness
Antonyms: steal

n

Definition: fabrication, lie
Antonyms: truth

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Inventions may be old ideas or techniques applied in new ways: they are very often combinations of old, and even highly familiar, ideas. To some degree almost all human behaviour is inventive, for it is seldom strictly repetitive and is aimed at contingencies which, though small and trivial, nevertheless require invention even if of a humble kind. The outstanding inventions, such as the phonograph of Thomas Alva Edison, represent the extension of abilities to some degree possessed by us all. Edison had remarkable perseverance towards imaginative goals; indeed he described invention as '99 per cent perspiration and 1 per cent inspiration'. The motivations, methods, and travails of inventors are described with case histories in The Sources of Invention, by J. Jewkes, D. Sawers, and R. Stillerman (1958). Most important is realizing what is needed; most difficult is attracting support for development.

(Published 1987)

— Richard L. Gregory

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A short, contrapuntal piece.

Dansk (Danish)
n. - opfindelse, påfund, løgnehistorie

Nederlands (Dutch)
uitvinding, vinding, verzinsel

Français (French)
n. - invention, mensonge, découverte, inventivité

Deutsch (German)
n. - Erfindung, Phantasie

Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - εφεύρεση, επινόημα, δημιουργική φαντασία, επινοητικότητα, (μουσ.) ενβανσιόν

Italiano (Italian)
invenzione, inventiva

Português (Portuguese)
n. - invenção (f)

Русский (Russian)
изобретение, изобретательность

Español (Spanish)
n. - invención, invento, mentira, descubrimiento, inventiva

Svenska (Swedish)
n. - uppfinning (sförmåga), påhitt, invention (mus.)

中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
发明, 虚构的故事, 创作能力

中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 發明, 虛構的故事, 創作能力

한국어 (Korean)
n. - 발명[력], 허구, 발견

日本語 (Japanese)
n. - 発明, 発明品, でっちあげ, 発明の才, 虚構

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(الاسم) اختراع, تلفيق‏

עברית (Hebrew)
n. - ‮המצאה, בדותה, כושר-המצאה, חידוש, לחן קצר לכלי עם מנענעים, יצירתיות‬

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six part invention