patent
Forms
- Plural
- patents
- Comparative
- more patent
- Superlative
- most patent
- present (v1)
- patent
- past (v2)
- patented
- past participle (v3)
- patented
- present participle
- patenting
- 3rd person singular
- patents
Definitions
1.A grant of a monopoly over the manufacture, sale, and use of goods.
2.A declaration issued by a government agency that the inventor of a new invention has the sole privilege of making, selling, or using the claimed invention for a specified period.
3.An official document granting an appointment, privilege, or right, or some property or title; letters patent.
- Philip of Spain had offered a reward of 25,000 crowns, a patent of nobility, and immunity for all past crimes, to the assassinator of the Prince of Orange.
4.A product in respect of which a patent (sense 1.2.2) has been obtained.
1.To (successfully) register (a new invention) with a government agency to obtain the sole privilege of its manufacture, sale, and use for a specified period.
- To his great credit, Manson refused to patent his invention, as he desired to remove any obstacle to its adoption by other companies.
- The US supreme court has ruled unanimously that natural human genes cannot be patented, a decision that scientists and civil rights campaigners said removed a major barrier to patient care and medical innovation.
2.To be closely associated or identified with (something); to monopolize.
1.Conspicuous; open; unconcealed.
- She has a patent ductus arteriosus that will require surgery to close.
- At the departure of Philip he had received instructions, both patent and secret, for his guidance as stadholder of Holland, Friesland, and Utrecht.
2.Explicit and obvious.
- Those claims are patent nonsense.
Frequency
Overall
Uncommon· #3866
By learning goal
- Everyday conversation
- Rare
- General reading & writing
- Uncommon
- Academic
- Rare
- Literature
- Rare
Etymology
The noun is derived from Middle English patent (“document granting an office, property, right, title, etc.; document granting permission, licence; papal indulgence, pardon”) [and other forms], which is either: