<B>invenit,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> (Latin.) (he or she) invented, devised, or designed it. </DL>
<A NAME="invent">
<B>invent, </B>transitive verb.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>to make up for the first time; make or think out (something new). <BR> <I>Ex. Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>to make up; think up. <BR> <I>Ex. When she had no good reason for being late, she invented some excuse.</I> (SYN) fabricate. <DD><B> 3. </B>(Obsolete.) to come upon; find. <BR> <I>Ex. And vowed never to returne againe, Till him alive or dead she did invent (Edmund Spenser).</I> <DD><I>v.i. </I> to devise something new, as by thought or ingenuity; originate; create. <BR> <I>Ex. But when did woman ever yet invent? (Tennyson).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="inventer">
<B>inventer, </B>noun. =inventor.</DL>
<A NAME="inventible">
<B>inventible, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> that can be invented. </DL>
<A NAME="invention">
<B>invention, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>the act or process of inventing; the original making of something new. <BR> <I>Ex. the invention of gunpowder. For the last three centuries, Western civilization has dedicated a good part of its energies to the invention of machines (New Yorker).</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>a thing invented. <BR> <I>Ex. Television is a modern invention.</I> <DD><B> 3. </B>the power of inventing. <BR> <I>Ex. An author must have invention to think up new ideas for stories.</I> <DD><B> 4. </B>a made-up story; false statement. <BR> <I>Ex. That rumor was the old gossip's own invention.</I> <DD><B> 5. </B>(Music.) a short composition in which a single theme is developed in simple counterpoint. <BR> <I>Ex. Bach's piano Inventions.</I> <DD><B> 6. </B>(in classical rhetoric) the selection of suitable topics or arguments. <DD><B> 7. </B>(Archaic.) the act of finding, or finding out; discovery. </DL>
<A NAME="inventional">
<B>inventional, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> of, having to do with, or like invention. </DL>
<A NAME="inventive">
<B>inventive, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>good at inventing; quick to invent things. <BR> <I>Ex. An inventive person thinks up ways to save time, money, and work.</I> (SYN) imaginative, ingenious. <DD><B> 2. </B>of invention. <DD><B> 3. </B>showing power of inventing. <BR> <I>Ex. Great art ... must be inventive, that is, be produced by the imagination (John Ruskin).</I> adv. <B>inventively.</B> noun <B>inventiveness.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="inventor">
<B>inventor, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a person who invents. <BR> <I>Ex. Edison was a great inventor.</I> </DL>
<A NAME="inventorial">
<B>inventorial, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> of or having to do with an inventory. adv. <B>inventorially.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="inventory">
<B>inventory, </B>noun, pl. <B>-ries,</B> verb, <B>-ried,</B> <B>-rying.</B><DL COMPACT><DD><I>noun </I> <B>1. </B>a complete and detailed list of articles. An inventory of property or goods tells how many there are of each article and what they are worth. <DD><B> 2. </B>all the articles listed or to be listed; stock. <BR> <I>Ex. The storekeeper had a sale to reduce his inventory.</I> <DD><B> 3. </B>any detailed account. <BR> <I>Ex. There are stores laid up in our human nature that our understanding can make no complete inventory of (George Eliot).</I> <DD><I>v.t. </I> to make a detailed list of; enter in a list. <BR> <I>Ex. Some stores inventory their stock once a month.</I> </DL>
<A NAME="inventorycontrol">
<B>inventory control</B> or <B>management,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> the maintenance of inventories at a desired level; control of the level of normal or basic stock. <BR> <I>Ex. His company's campaign to improve inventory control has enabled it to handle growing sales ... without increasing its stocks (Wall Street Journal).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="inventress">
<B>inventress, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a woman inventor. </DL>
<A NAME="inveracious">
<B>inveracious, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> not veracious; untruthful. </DL>
<B>inverness, </B>noun, or <B>Inverness cape,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> an overcoat with a removable cape. </DL>
<A NAME="inverse">
<B>inverse, </B>adjective, noun, verb, <B>-versed,</B> <B>-versing.</B><DL COMPACT><DD><I>adj. </I> <B>1. </B>exactly opposite; reversed in position, direction, or tendency; opposite in nature or effect. <BR> <I>Ex. DCBA is the inverse order of ABCD. The reigning taste was so bad, that the success of a writer was in inverse proportion to his labor, and to his desire of excellence (Macaulay).</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>turned upside down; inverted. <BR> <I>Ex. I saw a tower builded on a lake, Mock'd by its inverse shadow (Thomas Hood).</I> <DD><B> 3. </B>(Mathematics.) of or having to do with an inverse or an inverse function. <BR> <I>Ex. an inverse operation, inverse elements.</I> <DD><I>noun </I> <B>1. </B>something reversed. <BR> <I>Ex. The inverse of 3/4 is 4/3.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>the direct opposite. <BR> <I>Ex. Evil is the inverse of good.</I> <DD><B> 3. </B>(Mathematics.) <DD><B> a. </B>an operation which cancels what another operation does. <BR> <I>Ex. The inverse of addition is subtraction.</I> <DD><B> b. </B><B>=inverse function.</B> <DD><B> c. </B>either one of two elements in a set that by combining in a binary operation yield the identity element of the set. <DD><I>v.t. </I> to invert; reverse. adv. <B>inversely.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="inversecoefficient">
<B>inverse coefficient,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> (Economics.) a coefficient used in input-output tables to show to what extent the demand for one industry's products affects the production requirements of another industry. </DL>
<A NAME="inversefunction">
<B>inverse function,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> (Mathematics.) <DD><B> 1. </B>a function which is the inverse of another function. <DD><B> 2. </B>a function which replaces another function's independent variable with a value of its dependent variable. </DL>
<A NAME="inversesquarelaw">
<B>inverse square law,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> (Physics.) <DD><B> 1. </B>a law stating that the intensity of light falling on a surface varies inversely with the square of the distance between the source and the surface. <DD><B> 2. </B>this law applied to sound, electricity, and other forms of energy. <BR> <I>Ex. As everyone knows, it is an inverse square law force: the gravitational attraction between two masses varies inversely as the square of the distance between them (Scientific American).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="inversion">
<B>inversion, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>the act of inverting or condition of being inverted. <DD><B> 2. </B>something inverted. <DD><B> 3. </B>(Rhetoric.) reversal of the usual or natural order of words; anastrophe. (Example:) happy is the returning traveler; the house beautiful. <DD><B> 4. </B>(Meteorology.) an increase of air temperature with elevation instead of the usual decrease. <DD><B> 5. </B>(Mathematics.) the reversal of a ratio by interchanging the positions of the numerator and denominator. <DD><B> 6. </B>(Medicine.) a turning inside out or inward; introversion. <DD><B> 7. </B>(Chemistry.) the hydrolysis of certain carbohydrates, such as cane sugar into glucose and fructose, in which the optical rotation of the solution is reversed. <DD><B> 8. </B>(Music.) the process or result of changing the relative position of the notes of an interval, chord, etc., by transposing the lowest note or the root of a chord to a higher octave. <DD><B> 9. </B><B>=homosexuality.</B> <DD><B> 10. </B>(Phonetics.) articulation with the tip of the tongue raised and bent backward. <DD><B> 11. </B>(Genetics.) the reversal of one segment of a chromosome. In chromosomal inversion, the linear order of a chromosome segment is turned around 180 degrees. </DL>
<A NAME="inversionlayer">
<B>inversion layer,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> (Meteorology.) a layer of air that is warmer than the air below it. <BR> <I>Ex. The inversion layer thought characteristic of tornadoes may actually disappear gradually several hours before "twisters" are born (Science News Letter).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="inversive">
<B>inversive, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> characterized by inversion. </DL>
<A NAME="invert">
<B>invert, </B>verb, adjective, noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>v.t. </I> <B>1. </B>to turn upside down. <BR> <I>Ex. He inverted the glass and the water ran out.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>to turn the other way; change to the opposite; reverse in position, direction, or order. <BR> <I>Ex. If you invert "I can," you have "Can I?" (Figurative.) Inflation in time of depression inverts all the old canons of economics.</I> <DD><B> 3. </B>(Music.) to change by making the lower or lowest note an octave higher or the higher or highest note an octave lower. <DD><B> 4. </B>(Medicine.) to turn outside in or inside out. <DD><B> 5. </B>(Chemistry.) to decompose by inversion. <DD><B> 6. </B>(Phonetics.) to pronounce with the tip of the tongue raised and bent backward. <DD><I>adj. </I> (Chemistry.) inverted. <DD><I>noun </I> <B>1. </B>a person or thing that is inverted. <DD><B> 2. </B><B>=homosexual.</B> <DD><B> 3. </B>a postage stamp printed with an inverted design. </DL>
<A NAME="invertase">
<B>invertase, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> an enzyme which acts as a catalyst to convert sucrose into glucose and fructose; saccharase; sucrase. Invertase is found in plants, yeast, and the digestive juices of animals. </DL>
<A NAME="invertebracy">
<B>invertebracy, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> invertebrate condition or quality; spinelessness. </DL>
<A NAME="invertebrate">
<B>invertebrate, </B>adjective, noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>adj. </I> <B>1. </B>without a backbone. <BR> <I>Ex. invertebrate animals including the worm, the spider, and the beetle.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>of or having to do with invertebrates. <DD><B> 3. </B>(Figurative.) lacking moral strength; without character, conviction, or purpose. <BR> <I>Ex. The book is invertebrate, with none of the dramatic structure that a long, detailed novel so much needs (New Yorker).</I> <DD><I>noun </I> <B>1. </B>any one of the large number of types of animals without a backbone. Worms and insects are invertebrates; fishes, amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals are vertebrates. <DD><B> 2. </B>(Figurative.) a person without moral strength or character. </DL>
<A NAME="inverted">
<B>inverted, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> turned upside down; in a reverse position, direction, or order. <BR> <I>Ex. (Figurative.) In a strange sort of inverted way he did well by his country there in the dock in Moscow (Listener).</I> </DL>
