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.] in·vention·al adj. |
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