inventory

noun

Simple meaning

The stock of an item on hand at a particular location or business.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

ihnvuhntawree

Say the bold part a little louder.

US device voice

IPA pronunciation (US)

ɪnvənˈtɔɹi

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.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

noun

operations
The stock of an item on hand at a particular location or business.
operations
A detailed list of all the items in stock
operations
Making an itemized list of merchandise or supplies on hand
“An inventory may be necessary to see if anything is missing.”
operations
The process of producing or updating such a list.
A space containing the items available to a character, especially in a video game, for immediate use.

Word at a Glance

Difficulty: B1 · Intermediate
Frequency: Common
Typical Use: Everyday English

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: (operations) The stock of an item on hand at a particular location or business.

Used this way, inventory is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It turns up most in business or professional contexts.

Emotional tone: Neutral
Formality: Neutral
Intensity: Not strongly marked
How common: Moderately common
Connotation: Matter-of-fact
Usage feel: Neutral and straightforward

Where it naturally appears

Business/professional

Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.

More ways to use inventory

“An inventory may be necessary to see if anything is missing.”noun
“They carried a vast inventory of hardware.”noun
“Inventory all books before the end of the year.”verb

Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

inventory controlpersonality inventoryinventory managementphysical inventoryinventory turnoverinventory valuationinventory itemsending inventory

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Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Compound terms

Established multiword terms.

inventory itemnounCompound term
An item listed in an inventory.
inventory-clearance salenounCompound term
A sale to reduce inventory.
inventory accountingnounCompound term
Accounting that controls and evaluates inventory.
inventory controlnounCompound term
Supervision of the supply and storage and accessibility of items in order to insure an adequate supply without excessive oversupply.
minnesota multiphasic personality inventorynounCompound term
A self-report personality inventory consisting of 550 items that describe feelings or actions which the person is asked to agree with or disagree with.
parts inventorynounCompound term
An inventory of replacement parts.

More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin

Synonyms

Sense: stock of an item on hand at a particular location

stock

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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.