English Explanatory Dictionary

patent

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. An official document granting an appointment, privilege, or right, or some property or title; letters patent.
  2. A grant of a monopoly over the manufacture, sale, and use of goods.
  3. 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.
  4. A specific grant of ownership of a piece of real property; a land patent.
  5. A product in respect of which a patent (sense 1.2.2) has been obtained.
  6. Ellipsis of patent leather (“a varnished, high-gloss leather typically used for accessories and shoes”).
  7. A licence or (formal) permission to do something.
  8. A characteristic or quality that one possesses; in particular (hyperbolic) as if exclusively; a monopoly.
  9. The combination of seven bets on three selections, offering a return even if only one bet comes in.
verb
  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.
  2. To obtain (over a piece of real property) a specific grant of ownership.
  3. To be closely associated or identified with (something); to monopolize.
adj
  1. Conspicuous; open; unconcealed.
  2. Of flour: fine, and consisting mostly of the inner part of the endosperm of the grain from which it is milled.
  3. Open, unobstructed; specifically, especially of the ductus arteriosus or foramen ovale in the heart, having not closed as would have happened in normal development.
  4. Of an infection: in the phase when the organism causing it can be detected by clinical tests.
  5. Explicit and obvious.
  6. Especially of a document conferring some privilege or right: open to public perusal or use.
  7. Appointed or conferred by letters patent.
  8. Of a branch, leaf, etc.: outspread; also, spreading at right angles to the axis.
  9. Protected by a legal patent.
  10. To which someone has, or seems to have, a claim or an exclusive claim; also, inventive or particularly suited for.

Pronunciation

/ˈpeɪtənt/ /ˈpætənt/ En-uk-patent.ogg pătʹənt pātʹənt [ˈpʰæ̝ʔn̩t̚] [ˈpʰe̞ɪʔn̩t̚] LL-Q1860 (eng)-Simplificationalizer-patent.wav /ˈpæɪtənt/

Word forms

patent patents patenting patented more patent most patent

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: * a clipping of lettre patent, lettres patente, lettres patentes [and other forms]; or * directly from Anglo-Norman and Middle French patente (modern French patent), a clipping of Anglo-Norman lettres patentes, Middle French lettres patentes, lettre patente, and Old French patentes lettres (“document granting an office, privilege, right, etc., or making a decree”) (compare Late Latin patēns, littera patēns, litterae patentēs). For the derivation of Anglo-Norman and Middle French patente (adjective) in lettre patente, see etymology 2 below. The verb is derived from the noun.

Synonyms

overt express monosemous unambiguous clear direct explicit monosemic patent plain specific unequivocal univocal apparent arrant undoubted glaring bait blatant clear as a bell clear as day clear cut conspicuous crystal clear cut and dried decided elucidate evident eyely intuitive manifest notable noticeable obvious open-and-shut ostensible palpable plain as a haystack plain as a pikestaff plain as day plain as Dunstable highway plain as porridge plain as print plain as Salisbury plain as the nose on one's face prima facie res ipsa loquitur splendent straightforward undissembled patented

Derived words

antipatent biopatent blocking patent impatent land patent nonpatent patentee patenter patentese patentholder patentholding patentizing patent law patent leathers patentless patentlike patent office patent of precedence patentometrics patentor patent pool patentspeak patent thicket patent troll patent trolling pat. pend. submarine patent subpatent triadic patent unpatent prepatent nonpatentability nonpatentable nonpatented patentability patentable patentably patented patenting repatent unpatentability unpatentable unpatented Chinese patent medicine erectopatent patency patent fuel patent hammer patent inside patent leather patent log patently patent medicine patent outside prepatently subpatently

Translations

Finnish: avoin Italian: pervio
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