inventory
- 01 B2 Upper Intermediate
n.a detailed list of all the things in a specific place, like a shop or a house.
n.a complete and detailed list of all the articles, goods, or property in a particular place or belonging to a person or entity.
Simple“The landlord took an inventory of the furniture before the new tenants moved in.”
In context“The museum maintains a digital inventory of every artifact in its collection to ensure that nothing is misplaced during renovations.”
UsageOften used with the verb 'take' or 'make'.
- 02 B2 Upper Intermediate
n.the actual goods or materials that a business has available to sell.
n.the physical stock of goods, materials, or assets held by a business at a specific time.
Simple“The shop has a large inventory of winter coats because of the cold weather.”
In context“Efficient supply chain management requires keeping enough inventory to meet demand without incurring excessive storage costs.”
- 03 C1 Advanced
n.the full set of sounds or words that exist in a specific language.
n.the total set of a specified linguistic feature, such as phonemes or morphemes, within a particular language or dialect.
Simple“English has a larger inventory of vowel sounds than many other languages.”
In context“The researcher analyzed the phonological inventory of the dialect to determine how it differed from the standard variety.”
Teacher's tipIn linguistics, this refers to the 'menu' of options a language has available.
Synonyms - 04 B1 Intermediate
n.the screen in a video game where you can see and manage the items your character is carrying.
n.a user interface element in video games that displays the items currently held or equipped by the player character.
Simple“I need to drop some rocks because my inventory is full and I can't carry more gold.”
In context“The game's inventory management system was criticized for being too small, forcing players to constantly discard useful items.”
- 05 C1 Advanced
v.to make a list of all the items you have in a place.
v.to perform a systematic count and recording of items or resources on hand.
Simple“The staff will inventory the warehouse supplies over the weekend.”
In context“It is standard procedure to inventory the laboratory equipment at the end of each fiscal year to account for any losses.”
UsageThis is a transitive verb that requires a direct object.
Usage personality inventory
“As a result, the store effectively serves two groups of customers from the same inventory: consumers who pay the full price and those who finance their purchases.”
“These companies may try to absorb some of the cost to protect their market share and work through existing inventory.”
From Middle English inventorie, from Medieval Latin inventōrium, alteration of Late Latin inventārium, from Latin inveniō (“to find out”).
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.