0 to design and/or create something that has never been made before:
1 to create a reason, excuse, story, etc. that is not true, usually to deceive someone:
3 to design or create something which has never been made or has never existed before:
4 to create a reason, excuse, etc. which is not true in order to deceive someone:
Managers often invent an explanation for their actions.
I wish someone would invent an everlasting light bulb.
Gas lamps became obsolete when electric lighting was invented.
He has invented a wholly factitious story about his past.
She tried to save face by inventing a story about being overseas at the time.
In this view, phages could be considered as a powerful way of inventing new genes potentially beneficial to their hosts.
Admittedly, there is some interest in the proposal that alphabetical writing might first have been invented to conceal knowledge.
The courts have invented new laws, as in the new liabilities to restrain picketing during the miners' strike.
