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Imagination vs Inventive - What's the difference?

imagination | inventive |

As a noun imagination

is imagination (image-making power of the mind).

As an adjective inventive is

of, or relating to invention.

imagination

English

Noun

(en noun)
  • The image-making power of the mind; the act of creating or reproducing ideally an object not previously perceived; the ability to create such images.
  • Imagination is one of the most advanced human faculties.
  • * {{quote-book, year=1913, author=
  • , title=Lord Stranleigh Abroad , chapter=5 citation , passage=She removed Stranleigh’s coat with a dexterity that aroused his imagination .}}
  • Particularly, construction of false images; fantasizing.
  • You think someone's been following you? That's just your imagination .
  • Creativity; resourcefulness.
  • His imagination makes him a valuable team member.
  • A mental image formed by the action of the imagination as a faculty; a conception; a notion; an imagining; something imagined.
  • * 1597 , Francis Bacon, "Of Youth and Age", Essays :
  • And yet the invention of young men, is more lively than that of old; and imaginations stream into their minds better, and, as it were, more divinely.

    Synonyms

    * (the representative power) creativity, fancy, imaginativeness, invention, inventiveness

    inventive

    English

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • Of, or relating to invention.
  • Creative, or skilful at inventing.
  • * 2013 , Chris Bevan, " Borussia Dortmund 0-1 Arsenal", BBC Sport , 6 November 2013:
  • At the other end, Dortmund were producing some typically inventive approach play but struggled to find a way through the visitors' defence, and were unable to find a finish when they did.