innovation
noun
Simple meaning
The act of creating new ideas, methods, or devices
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
ihnuhvayshuhnSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ɪnəˈveɪʃən
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
The act of innovating; the introduction of something new, in customs, rites, etc.
A change effected by innovating; a change in customs.
Something new, and contrary to established customs, manners, or rites.
The act of starting something for the first time; introducing something new
A newly formed shoot, or the annually produced addition to the stems of many mosses.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- A2 · Elementary (estimated)
- Frequency
- Common
- Typical Use
- General English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: The act of innovating; the introduction of something new, in customs, rites, etc.
Used this way, innovation is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Matter-of-fact
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use innovation
- “The new phone model features an exciting innovation in battery technology.”noun
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Common Patterns and Combinations
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.