patent

Fetched 2026-11-03 (live).

Synonyms: potent, latent, patient, parent, paten, patena, patens, pament, atent, patet

Antonyms: potent, latent, patient, parent, paten, patena, patens, pament, atent, patet

Related words from Datamuse; suggestions, not definitions.

Noun

1. An official document granting an appointment, privilege, or right, or some property or title; letters patent. A grant of a monopoly over the manufacture, sale, and use of goods. 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. A specific grant of ownership of a piece of real property; a land patent.
2. An official document granting an appointment, privilege, or right, or some property or title; letters patent.
3. A grant of a monopoly over the manufacture, sale, and use of goods. 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 grant of a monopoly over the manufacture, sale, and use of goods.
5. 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.
6. A specific grant of ownership of a piece of real property; a land patent.
7. A product in respect of which a patent (sense 1.2.2) has been obtained.
8. Ellipsis of patent leather (“a varnished, high-gloss leather typically used for accessories and shoes”).
9. A licence or (formal) permission to do something. A characteristic or quality that one possesses; in particular as if exclusively; a monopoly.
10. A licence or (formal) permission to do something.
11. A characteristic or quality that one possesses; in particular as if exclusively; a monopoly.
12. 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. To obtain (over a piece of real property) a specific grant of ownership.
2. 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.
3. To obtain (over a piece of real property) a specific grant of ownership.
4. To be closely associated or identified with (something); to monopolize.

Adjective

1. Conspicuous; open; unconcealed.
   • She has a patent ductus arteriosus that will require surgery to close.
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.
   • She has a patent ductus arteriosus that will require surgery to close.
4. Of an infection: in the phase when the organism causing it can be detected by clinical tests.
5. Explicit and obvious.
   • Those claims are patent nonsense.
6. Especially of a document conferring some privilege or right: open to public perusal or use.
   • letters patent
7. Especially of a document conferring some privilege or right: open to public perusal or use.
   • letters patent
8. Appointed or conferred by letters patent.
9. Of a branch, leaf, etc.: outspread; also, spreading at right angles to the axis.
10. Protected by a legal patent.
    • a patent right patent medicines
11. To which someone has, or seems to have, a claim or an exclusive claim; also, inventive or particularly suited for.

Source: Wiktionary · CC BY-SA 3.0 (Wiktionary) · cached copy, not a rewrite.