different between inventive vs odd

English

Etymology

From Middle English inventif, inventyfe, inventiff, inventyf, borrowed from Old French inventif, borrowed from Medieval Latin inventivus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?n?v?nt?v/
• Rhymes: -?nt?v

Adjective

inventive (comparative more inventive, superlative most inventive)

1. Of, or relating to invention; pertaining to the act of devising new mechanisms or processes.
   • 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.

2. Possessed of a particular capacity for the design of new mechanisms or processes, creative or skilful at inventing.

3. Purposefully fictive

Derived terms

• inventively
• inventiveness

Translations

French

Adjective

inventive

1. feminine singular of inventif

Italian

Adjective

inventive

1. feminine plural of inventivo

Noun

inventive f pl

1. plural of inventiva

English

Etymology

From Middle English od, odde (“odd (not even); leftover after division into pairs”), from Old Norse oddi (“odd, third or additional number; triangle”), from oddr (“point of a weapon”), from Proto-Germanic *uzdaz (“point”), from Proto-Indo-European *wes- (“to stick, prick, pierce, sting”) + Proto-Indo-European *d?eh?- (“to set, place”). Cognate to Icelandic oddi (“triangle, point of land, odd number”), Swedish udda (“odd”), udd (“a point”), Norwegian Bokmål odde (“a point”, “odd”, “peculiar”); related to Old English ord (“a point”). Doublet of ord ("point").

Pronunciation

• enPR: ?d
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?d/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /?d/
• Rhymes: -?d
• Homophone: awed (in accents with the cot-caught merger)

Adjective

odd (not generally comparable, comparative odder, superlative oddest)

1. Differing from what is usual, ordinary or expected.

   Synonyms: unusual, strange; see also Thesaurus:strange

   Antonyms: common, familiar, mediocre; see also Thesaurus:common

   1. Peculiar, singular and strange in looks or character; eccentric, bizarre.
      • 2003, Kenneth Rubin, Andrea Thompson, The Friendship Factor, Penguin (?ISBN):

        [One of them would] say, 'Hi, Mother.' This might be Chrissie with the purple hair and black lipstick, or Adam, who usually wore odd leather stuff. Sometimes 'Hi' was all I heard; other times they'd stay and talk for a minute.

2. (not comparable) Without a corresponding mate in a pair or set; unmatched; (of a pair or set) mismatched.

   Synonyms: single, mismatched

   My cat Fluffy has odd eyes: one blue and one brown.

3. (not comparable) Left over, remaining after the rest have been paired or grouped.

4. (not comparable) Left over or remaining (as a small amount) after counting, payment, etc.
   • 2009, Sam O'Connor, Tales of Old Las Vegas: Inside are a Few Stories Set in the 60's, where There was More to the Action Than the Games, AuthorHouse (?ISBN), page 187:

     "Here, I have some odd change that should make things easier." As Tish turned and reached for the cigarettes, Eric took some loose coins from his pocket and placed the change from the twenty into his other pocket.

   • 2010, Chris Thomas, The Rockefeller Fraud, Xulon Press (?ISBN), page 24:

     Third was my college loan of five thousand dollars and some odd change.

5. (not comparable) Scattered; occasional, infrequent; not forming part of a set or pattern.

   I don't speak Latin well, so in hearing a dissertation in Latin, I would only be able to make out the odd word of it.

   • 1998, Anton Pavlovich Chekhov, Ronald Hingley, Five Plays, Oxford University Press, USA (?ISBN), page 148:

     There are odd bits of green here and there in patches, but no continuous stretches. The elk, swans and woodgrouse are no more. The old hamlets, farmsteads, hermitages and mills have vanished without trace.

6. (not comparable) Not regular or planned.

7. (not comparable) Used or employed for odd jobs.
   • 1879, Journal of Horticulture and Practical Gardening, page 262:

     The odd horse will now be employed in carting couch grass on to pasture land, carting hay, &c, to sheep in the field, carting roots, straw, &c, for feeding cattle in the boxes or dairy cows in the stalls or yards, and in various odd jobs on the farm  ...

   • 1894, Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons, Sessional papers. Inventory control record 1, page 57:

     At about 14 he rises a step by getting the 'odd' horse and cart, and does all the small carting work about the farm.
8. (mathematics, not comparable) Numerically indivisible by two.

   Antonym: even
9. (not comparable) Numbered with an odd number.

10. (not comparable, in combination with a number) About, approximately; somewhat more than (an approximated round number).

    Synonyms: see Thesaurus:about, Thesaurus:approximately

11. Out of the way, secluded.
    • 1958, Henry Miller, The Colossus of Maroussi, New Directions Publishing (?ISBN), page 218:

      "Well, isn't it a bit unusual to run into an old friend in an odd corner of the world like this?" I asked.

    • 2015, Karen Newcomb, The Postage Stamp Vegetable Garden: Grow Tons of Organic Vegetables in Tiny Spaces and Containers, Ten Speed Press (?ISBN):

      Plant a clump in your postage stamp garden, or stuff them in an odd corner of a flower bed. (They prefer full sun but will tolerate filtered shade.)

12. (sports) On the left.

    He served from the odd court.

13. (obsolete) Singular in excellence; matchless; peerless; outstanding. [since the 1400s]
    • 1886, Walter William Skeat, The Wars of Alexander: An Alliterative Romance Translated Chiefly from the Historia Alexandri Magni de Preliis, page 120, in (modern English) notes about the Middle English text:

      He goes to Phrygia, and sees Scamander. "Happy are all," he says, "who are honoured by that odd clerk. Homer." In Macedonia, he finds hie mother.

    • 1815, Walter Scott, Guy Mannering – or The Astrologer:

      I assure you, if I were Hazlewood I should look on his compliments, his bowings, his cloakings, his shawlings, and his handings with some little suspicion; and truly I think Hazlewood does so too at some odd times.

Derived terms

Related terms

• ord
• odds and ends

Translations

Noun

odd (plural odds)

1. (mathematics, diminutive) An odd number.

   So let's see. There are two evens here and three odds.

2. (colloquial) Something left over, not forming part of a set.

   I've got three complete sets of these trading cards for sale, plus a few dozen odds.

Translations

See also

• Odd Rode

Further reading

• Odd in the Encyclopædia Britannica (11th edition, 1911)
• odd at OneLook Dictionary Search
• odd in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

Anagrams

• DDO, DOD, DoD, dod

Icelandic

Noun

odd

1. indefinite accusative singular of oddur

Middle English

Adjective

odd

1. Alternative form of od