invention

noun

Etymology: 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.

1. Something invented.

   “My new invention will let you alphabetize your matchbook collection in half the usual time.”

   “I’m afraid there was no burglar. It was all the housekeeper’s invention.”

2. The act of inventing.

   “The invention of the printing press was probably the most significant innovation of the medieval ages.”

   “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.”

3. The capacity to invent.

   “It took quite a bit of invention to come up with a plan, but we did it.”

4. A small, self-contained composition, particularly those in J.S. Bach’s Two- and Three-part Inventions.

   “I particularly like the inventions in C-minor.”

   “INVENTION. A term used by J. S. Bach, and probably by him only, for small pianoforte pieces — 15 in 2 parts and 15 in 3 parts — each developing a single idea, and in some measure answering to the Impromptu of a later day.”

5. The act of discovering or finding; the act of finding out; discovery.

   “That judicial method which serveth best for the invention of truth.”