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The definition of an invention is something such as a device or process that has been created or made up, or the process of creating or making up something or figuring out a way to do something.

(noun)

A new type of computer is an example of an invention.
The process of inventing a new type of computer is an example of invention.
A story that is created or made up is an example of an invention.

See invention in Webster's New World College Dictionary

noun

an inventing or being invented
the power of inventing; ingenuity or creativity
something invented; specif.,
1. something thought up or mentally fabricated; esp., a falsehood
2. something originated by experiment, etc.; new device or contrivance
Music a short composition, usually for a keyboard instrument, developing a single short motif in counterpoint; esp., any of a group of these by J. S. Bach

Origin: ME inuencioun < OFr invencion < L inventio

See invention in American Heritage Dictionary 4

noun

The act or process of inventing: used a technique of her own invention.
A new device, method, or process developed from study and experimentation: the phonograph, an invention attributed to Thomas Edison.
A mental fabrication, especially a falsehood.
Skill in inventing; inventiveness: “the invention and sweep of the staging” (John Simon).
Music A short composition developing a single theme contrapuntally.
A discovery; a finding.

Origin:

Origin: Middle English invencioun, scheme, plan

Origin: , from Old French invencion, a finding out

Origin: , from Latin inventiō, inventiōn-, inventiveness

Origin: , from inventus

Origin: , past participle of invenīre, to find; see invent

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