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inventar

to invent

verb een-ben-TAHR Less Common

Origin: From Latin 'invenire' (to find, to come upon), whose past participle gave both Spanish inventar and English 'invent'.

Also means

to make up

Usage Note

Inventar covers both technical invention (inventar una máquina) and fabricating a story (se lo inventó — he made it up). The reflexive inventarse emphasizes spontaneous fabrication and is very common colloquially. The noun is invento (invention) or inventor/a (inventor).

Examples

"¿Quién inventó el teléfono?"

Natural Translation

Who invented the telephone?

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