inventare

invent

verb een-vehn-TAH-reh Less Common

Origin: from Latin 'invenire', to come upon

Also means

make up

Usage Note

Inventare covers both creating something new and fabricating a story; inventare una scusa means 'to make up an excuse'. The reflexive inventarsi adds a sense of improvising on the spot, as in si è inventato un lavoro. It takes avere in compound tenses.

Examples

"I bambini inventano storie fantastiche."

Natural Translation

Children invent fantastic stories.

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