invention

noun5

1. •
   a new machine or way of doing something that someone has made or thought of first

   • 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.
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.
5. •
   (no longer used) The act of discovering or finding; the act of finding out; discovery.

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