Word.ws English Dictionary

How to use inventive in a sentence

26 example sentences · adjective

Inventive means of, or relating to invention; pertaining to the act of devising new mechanisms or processes. Example: “At the other end, Dortmund were producing some typically inventive approach play but struggled to find a way through the visitors' defence, and were unable to find a finish when they did.”

Examples of inventive by meaning

adjectiveOf, or relating to invention; pertaining to the act of devising new mechanisms or processes.

  • an inventive pursuit
  • At the other end, Dortmund were producing some typically inventive approach play but struggled to find a way through the visitors' defence, and were unable to find a finish when they did.2013 November 6, Chris Bevan, “Borussia Dortmund 0-1 Arsenal”, in BBC Sport

adjectivePossessed of a particular capacity for the design of new mechanisms or processes, creative or skilful at inventing.

  • an inventive fellow

adjectivePurposely fictive.

  • an inventive story

More sentences with inventive

  • In Bieszczady, a beautiful region of Poland, we degust an inventive and uniquely-textured naleśnik.2022, “Fried Dough Topped with Wild Blueberries; Naleśnik, Poland, Kraków & Nature, Poland”, in Red Karawana: A Worldwide Journey Across…. From the entry naleśnik
  • This wildly inventive piece of social satire may go down like a big old silly pill.2007 November 9, “THEATER REVIEW: Laughs help bitter meds go down”, in Atlanta Journal-Constitution. From the entry silly pill
  • Unlike Basie's increasingly repetitious piano noodlings, Young's melodic gestures had a way of staying fresh and inventive.1991, Gunther Schuller, The swing era: the development of jazz, 1930-1945. From the entry noodling
  • The Good George team are also playfully inventive, and recent brews have included a white stout with chocolate, vanilla and raspberry.2017, Lonely Planet's Global Beer Tour, →ISBN, page 265. From the entry white stout
  • How do they hide their wild undernature, their inventive nocturnal selves, put on their clothes and go out about their business?2014, Lia Mills, Fallen. From the entry undernature
  • An inventive joke born of Internet memedom.2012 March 28, Katherine Boyle, “Peeps Show VI: Power to the Peeps”, in The Washington Post. From the entry memedom
  • The works reflect the inventive point of view Mr.2009 August 13, Steven Kurutz, “Saving the House Next Door”, in New York Times. From the entry ledged
  • But, for God's sake, if you're going to misstroke, do us the kindness of being as inventive as Mike.1980, The Masthead - Volumes 32-34, page 45. From the entry misstroke
  • Their desire to steal has made them inventive.1974 May, John Robert Russell, chapter 3, in Sar, New York, N.Y.: Pocket Books, →ISBN, pages 63–64. From the entry lust after
  • And that is exactly what he did: marrying tricksy European post-modernism with hard-boiled American noir, to create something dizzyingly inventive and new.2024 May 1, Lisa Allardice, “Brooklyn’s bard: Paul Auster’s tricksy fiction captivated a generation”, in The Guardian, →ISSN. From the entry tricksy
  • Inventive under stress, Franklin toe-danced and spun around, faking high spirits “as if he were part of the fun instead of its object.”2019, John F. Woolverton, James D. Bratt, A Christian and a Democrat. From the entry toe-dance
  • In many cases, the technical sophistication of the ooparts extends far beyond the inventive capabilities of the ancient peoples among whose remains they were discovered.2001, Rene Noorbergen, Secrets of the Lost Races: New Discoveries, →ISBN, page 2. From the entry oopart
  • All that and more is cleverly and meticulously wedded to inventive music and rhythms, a unique blend of spritely intelligence and artful craftsmanship.1991 December 1, Rudy Grillo, “Who's The Top?”, in Gay Community News, volume 19, number 20, page 8. From the entry spritely
  • Carol’s family were self-sufficient in their inventive life, with Christmas a rite full of surprises and tenderness, and “dressing-up parties” spontaneous and joyously absurd.1920, Sinclair Lewis, Main Street, page 7. From the entry puella
  • Among the fest’s highlights this year were Babak Anvari’s Hallow Road, an inventive genre-bender that begins as a road thriller before slyly morphing into something else entirely.2025 March 17, Meagan Navarro, “SXSW 2025 Review Roundup: Gravedigging Comedy ‘Dead Lover’ to Teen Body Horror Satire ‘Slanted’”, in…. From the entry genre-bender
  • Directors Rich Moore and Phil Johnston, both veterans of the original Wreck-It Ralph team, also pull off some inventive, enlivening left turns that bring to mind the first film.2018 November 14, Jesse Hassenger, “Disney Goes Viral with an Ambitious, Overstuffed Wreck-It Ralph Sequel”, in The A.V. Club, archived…. From the entry left turn
  • The ‘New Elizabethans’ were to be in continuity with their past, but also youthful, inventive, exploratory – a spirit most clearly to be seen in the arts.2017 February 19, Peter Webster, “The New Elizabethan Age: Culture, Society and National Identity after World War II [book review]”, in…. From the entry Elizabethan
  • What discriminators actually think and do is reported, in reports arranged for use by their opponents; what anti-discriminators might or could do, goes beyond report to inventive strategy.2013, Hugh Stretton, The Political Sciences Routledge Library Editions. From the entry anti-discriminator
  • Mario Gotze was inventive, Lewandowski a menace, and Shinji Kagawa a constant source of energy as, time and again, the hosts played through a porous Arsenal midfield.2011 September 13, Sam Lyon, “Borussia Dortmund 1 - 1 Arsenal”, in BBC. From the entry time and again
  • He has developed a sophisticated, inventive way to use these modulations that were quite common in the singers we heard there in the backlands of the northeast.”2007 January 25, Larry Rohter, “Long-Lost Trove of Music Connects Brazil to Its Roots”, in New York Times. From the entry backland
  • Descriptions of him vary from "aggressively intelligent," "inventive," "articulate," "the most ‘op-ed’ academic in the field of education" to "arrogant" "combative," "hostile," and "dismissive" of ideas not his own.1991, The New York Times, The New York Times biographical service, volume 22, Arno Press. From the entry op-ed
  • He was not just a very highly skilled mine and bomb disposal officer; he was always using his inventive brain to devise new methods of defeating the devildoms of Germany.1968, Sir John George Smyth, The story of the George Cross, page 30. From the entry devildom

Meaning of inventive

  1. adjective Of, or relating to invention; pertaining to the act of devising new mechanisms or processes.
  2. adjective Possessed of a particular capacity for the design of new mechanisms or processes, creative or skilful at inventing.
  3. adjective Purposely fictive.

Full definition of inventive

Questions about inventive in a sentence

How do you use inventive in a sentence?
Inventive is used as an adjective. For example: “At the other end, Dortmund were producing some typically inventive approach play but struggled to find a way through the visitors' defence, and were unable to find a finish when they did.”
What is a short sentence with inventive?
“an inventive fellow”
What does inventive mean?
Inventive means of, or relating to invention; pertaining to the act of devising new mechanisms or processes.

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: inventive (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this page: “How to use inventive in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/inventive. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.