INVENTIVE

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does inventive mean? 

• INVENTIVE (adjective)
  The adjective INVENTIVE has 1 sense:

1. (used of persons or artifacts) marked by independence and creativity in thought or action

  Familiarity information: INVENTIVE used as an adjective is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• INVENTIVE (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

(used of persons or artifacts) marked by independence and creativity in thought or action

Synonyms:

imaginative; inventive

Context example:

inventive ceramics

Similar:

creative; originative (having the ability or power to create)

Derivation:

invent (come up with (an idea, plan, explanation, theory, or principle) after a mental effort)

inventiveness (the power of creative imagination)

 Context examples 

"When we are up I may be able to show you that the resources of an inventive mind are not yet exhausted."

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

It seemed as if, could I but go back to the idea which had last entered my mind as I stood at the window, some inventive suggestion would rise for my relief.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

He was giving orders for a toothpick-case for himself, and till its size, shape, and ornaments were determined, all of which, after examining and debating for a quarter of an hour over every toothpick-case in the shop, were finally arranged by his own inventive fancy, he had no leisure to bestow any other attention on the two ladies, than what was comprised in three or four very broad stares; a kind of notice which served to imprint on Elinor the remembrance of a person and face, of strong, natural, sterling insignificance, though adorned in the first style of fashion.

(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)

I have never yet encountered any problem, however, which my inventive brain was unable to solve, and I promise you that to-morrow I will turn my attention to the question of our descent.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)