invent
v.v. to create or design something that has never existed before. You can also use it to describe making up a story or an excuse that is not true.
v. to create, design, or produce something previously unknown; to originate a new device or process. Also used to describe the fabrication of a false story or explanation.
Thomas Edison did not invent the light bulb alone.
Engineers are working hard to invent a battery that lasts for an entire week without charging.
While many people believe he was the first to invent the steam engine, he actually refined an existing design to make it commercially viable.
From Middle English inventen, borrowed from Old French inventer, from Latin inventus, perfect passive participle of inveniō (“come upon, meet with, find, discover”), from in (“in, on”) + veniō (“come”); see venture. Compare advent, covent, event, prevent, etc. Displaced native Old English āþenċan (literally “to think out”).
The verb is transitive and requires a direct object.
He invented a new discovery.He made a new discovery.You invent things that are created (like machines), but you discover things that already existed but were hidden (like planets or islands).