Invention
/ɪnˈvɛnʃən/Definition, CEFR level A2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
nounSomething invented.
nounThe act of inventing.
Sentence Examples
Necessity is the mother of invention.
We have a good opinion of your invention.
Fax machines were a wonderful invention at the time.
Synonyms & Antonyms
Synonyms:
Antonyms:
None
CEFR Practice Quiz
The ____ of the smartphone greatly changed how people communicate every day.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The ____ of the steam engine was a key factor in the rapid development of the Industrial Revolution.
Word Origin & History
From Middle English invencion, invencioun, from Latin inventiō either directly or via Middle French invencion, from Latin invenīre (“to discover, find, invent”), from in- (“in-: in, into”) + venīre (“to come”). Doublet of inventio. By surface analysis, invent + -ion. Displaced native Old English orþanc.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"British inventions have done more to influence the shape of the modern world than those of any other country. Many—football, the steam engine and Worcestershire sauce, to take a random selection—have spread pleasure, goodwill and prosperity. Others—the Maxim gun, the Shrapnel shell and jellied eels—have not."
— 2013 October 5, “The widening gyre”, in The Economist, volume 409, number 8856, London: The Economist Group, →ISSN, →OCLC:
"Invention, or the Genius of Hiſtoricizing and framing a Noble Idea upon the Subject one vvould Paint, is a particular Talent, not to be acquir'd by Study or Labour; but is properly a certain ardor exciting the Imagination, prompting and enabling it to Act."
— 1668, Roland Freart [i.e., Roland Fréart de Chambray], “Of Invention”, in John Evelyn, transl., An Idea of the Perfection of Painting: […], In the Savoy [London]: […] Henry Herringman […], →OCLC, page 11:
"Digging deeper, the invention of eyeglasses is an elaboration of the more fundamental development of optics technology. The ability of a segment of a glass sphere to magnify whatever is placed before it was known around the year 1000, when the spherical segment was called a reading stone,[…]."
— 2013 September-October, Henry Petroski, “The Evolution of Eyeglasses”, in American Scientist:
Explore More A2 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The ____ of the smartphone greatly changed how people communicate every day.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The ____ of the steam engine was a key factor in the rapid development of the Industrial Revolution.