What does "patent" mean?
An official document granting an appointment, privilege, or right, or some property or title; letters patent.
Patent
/ˈpeɪtənt/ adj, noun, verb
adj, noun, verb ·Very common ·Middle school level
Meaning at a glance
- Primary sense: An official document granting an appointment, privilege, or right, or some property or title; letters patent.
- Grammar: patent is listed as adj, noun, verb.
- Nearest alternatives: acquire, admission, aegis, allowance.
- Useful contrasts: impatent, abandon, concealed.
- Usage evidence: Hans sold the patent to a company.
How to use "patent"
- Start with the primary definition, then check the part of speech before placing the word in a sentence.
- Compare nearby synonyms to make sure "patent" carries the exact meaning, tone, and strength you need.
- Use the example sentence as a context check. If your sentence uses the word differently, confirm that the grammar still fits.
Meaning check
- Does the word fit the sentence's grammar?
- Does it match the intended tone rather than only the dictionary definition?
- Would a simpler synonym be clearer for the reader?
- Is there enough surrounding context to prevent ambiguity?
Source and review context
This entry combines structured lexical data with WordToolSet review checks. Definitions, examples, synonyms, and usage notes may come from different source tables, so the page is designed to show evidence from more than one angle before you rely on "patent" in a final draft.
If a word has several senses, prefer the sense that matches your sentence's grammar and surrounding context. A correct definition can still be the wrong choice when the sentence needs a different register, emphasis, or level of specificity.
Before you rely on this definition
Read the first definition as a starting point, then check the example, synonyms, and part of speech before treating "patent" as the right word for your sentence.
If your draft is formal, technical, persuasive, or sensitive, compare "patent" with a nearby alternative so the final choice matches both meaning and reader expectation.
Compare nearby meanings
- Use synonyms when you need a softer, stronger, simpler, or more specific word.
- Use antonyms to check the boundary of the meaning and avoid accidental contrast.
- Use the example sentence to confirm the word behaves naturally in context.
- Keep the original wording when a replacement adds complexity without improving precision.
Definition decision workflow
1. Identify the role
Check whether "patent" is acting as adj, noun, verb in your sentence. A definition is only useful when the grammar matches the way the word is being used.
2. Test the nearest option
Compare it with "acquire" and other nearby choices to see whether the sentence needs a softer, stronger, or more familiar word.
3. Confirm with context
Use the example sentence below as an evidence check, then read your own sentence out loud to catch tone or rhythm problems.
Review note: Definition pages are checked for source coverage, sentence evidence, synonym support, and editorial insight before they are treated as approval-ready pages. If the evidence is too thin, the page remains available to users but is kept out of the approval-facing indexed inventory.
Final meaning check
Before publishing a sentence with "patent", ask whether the word helps the reader understand the idea faster. A precise word should reduce confusion, not simply make the sentence look more polished.
When the definition, synonym evidence, and example context point in the same direction, the word is usually a safer choice. When they conflict, revise the sentence or choose a clearer alternative.
Definitions
Noun
- 1 An official document granting an appointment, privilege, or right, or some property or title; letters patent. countable, uncountable
"[…] Squib proved clearly by his patent that the house and office did now belong to him."
- 2 a document granting an inventor sole rights to an invention wordnet
- 3 A grant of a monopoly over the manufacture, sale, and use of goods. countable, specifically, uncountable
- 4 an official document granting a right or privilege wordnet
- 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. countable, specifically, uncountable
"The patent situation, too, played a part in this, as often a firm sought to produce something which would achieve a given result, and yet not infringe a patent held by another; or a railway engineer would think of a device of his own that would free him of obligation to some manufacturer."
Show 6 more definitions
- 6 A specific grant of ownership of a piece of real property; a land patent. US, countable, historical, uncountable
- 7 A product in respect of which a patent (sense 1.2.2) has been obtained. broadly, countable, uncountable
- 8 Ellipsis of patent leather (“a varnished, high-gloss leather typically used for accessories and shoes”). abbreviation, alt-of, ellipsis, uncountable
- 9 A licence or (formal) permission to do something. countable, figuratively, uncountable
"If you be ſo fond ouer her iniquity, giue her patent to offend, for if it touches not you, it comes neere no body."
- 10 A characteristic or quality that one possesses; in particular (hyperbolic) as if exclusively; a monopoly. countable, figuratively, uncountable
"So will I growe, ſo liue, ſo die my Lord, / Ere I will yield my virgin Patent, vp / Vnto his Lordſhippe, whoſe vnwiſhed yoake / My ſoule conſents not to giue ſouerainty."
- 11 The combination of seven bets on three selections, offering a return even if only one bet comes in. countable, uncountable
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. transitive
"To his great credit, Manson refused to patent his invention, as he desired to remove any obstacle to its adoption by other companies."
- 2 make open to sight or notice wordnet
- 3 To obtain (over a piece of real property) a specific grant of ownership. US, historical, transitive
- 4 obtain a patent for wordnet
- 5 To be closely associated or identified with (something); to monopolize. figuratively, transitive
Show 1 more definition
- 6 grant rights to; grant a patent for wordnet
Adjective
- 1 Conspicuous; open; unconcealed.
"At the departure of Philip he had received instructions, both patent and secret, for his guidance as stadholder of Holland, Friesland, and Utrecht."
- 2 Conspicuous; open; unconcealed.; Of flour: fine, and consisting mostly of the inner part of the endosperm of the grain from which it is milled.
- 3 Conspicuous; open; unconcealed.; 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 Conspicuous; open; unconcealed.; 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."
Show 5 more definitions
- 6 Especially of a document conferring some privilege or right: open to public perusal or use. archaic
"letters patent"
- 7 Appointed or conferred by letters patent. archaic
"[H]e did at last think of an office which do belong to him in case the King do restore every man to his places that ever had been patent, which is to be one of the clerks of the signet, which will be a fine employment for one of his sons."
- 8 Of a branch, leaf, etc.: outspread; also, spreading at right angles to the axis.
- 9 Protected by a legal patent.
"a patent right patent medicines"
- 10 To which someone has, or seems to have, a claim or an exclusive claim; also, inventive or particularly suited for. broadly, figuratively
"["]Ben, my fine fellow, put your hand into the cupboard, and bring out the patent digester." Mr. Benjamin Allen smiled his readiness, and produced from the closet at his elbow a black bottle half full of brandy."
Adjective
- 1 clearly revealed to the mind or the senses or judgment wordnet
- 2 (of a bodily tube or passageway) open; affording free passage wordnet
Example
"Hans sold the patent to a company."
Common questions
What is a synonym for "patent"?
Common synonyms include: acquire, admission, aegis, allowance, apparent, apparent.
How do you use "patent" in a sentence?
Hans sold the patent to a company.
How do you pronounce "patent"?
Pronounced /ˈpeɪtənt/.
Etymology
Etymology 1
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.
Etymology 2
From Middle English patent, patente (“wide open; clear, unobstructed; unlimited; of a document: available for public inspection”) [and other forms], from Anglo-Norman and Middle French patent (modern French patent), and directly from their etymon Latin patēns (“open; accessible, passable; evident, manifest; exposed, vulnerable”), the present active participle of pateō (“to be open; to be accessible, attainable; to be exposed, vulnerable; of frontiers or land: to extent, increase”), from Proto-Indo-European *peth₂- (“to spread out; to fly”).