patent
IPA: pˈætʌnt
noun
- (law)
- An official document granting an appointment, privilege, or right, or some property or title; letters patent.
- (specifically)
- (originally) 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.
- (US, historical) A specific grant of ownership of a piece of real property; a land patent.
- (by extension) A product in respect of which a patent (sense 1.2.2) has been obtained.
- (figuratively)
- A licence or (formal) permission to do something.
- A characteristic or quality that one possesses; in particular (hyperbolic) as if exclusively; a monopoly.
- (gambling) The combination of seven bets on three selections, offering a return even if only one bet comes in.
- (uncountable) Short for patent leather (“a varnished, high-gloss leather typically used for accessories and shoes”). [Leather that has been given a high-gloss, shiny finish.]
verb
- (transitive, law)
- 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.
- (US, historical) To obtain (over a piece of real property) a specific grant of ownership.
- (transitive, figuratively) To be closely associated or identified with (something); to monopolize.
adjective
- Conspicuous; open; unconcealed.
- (baking) Of flour: fine, and consisting mostly of the inner part of the endosperm of the grain from which it is milled.
- (medicine) Open, unobstructed; specifically, especially of the ductus arteriosus or foramen ovale in the heart, having not closed as would have happened in normal development.
- (medicine, veterinary medicine) Of an infection: in the phase when the organism causing it can be detected by clinical tests.
- Explicit and obvious.
- (archaic)
- Especially of a document conferring some privilege or right: open to public perusal or use.
- Appointed or conferred by letters patent.
- (botany) Of a branch, leaf, etc.: outspread; also, spreading at right angles to the axis.
- (law) Protected by a legal patent.
- (by extension, figuratively) To which someone has, or seems to have, a claim or an exclusive claim; also, inventive or particularly suited for.
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Examples of "patent" in Sentences
- The patent is in the public domain.
- He received the polyurethane patent.
- It houses the patent and trademark depository.
- The reference to the patent is for clarification.
- According to the, GCM is unencumbered by patents.
- Modify the patent law doctrine of inequitable conduct.
- That is the law and that is the intent of the letters patent.
- The patent was challenged by the Indian Government to quash the patent.
- Failure to timely pay the fees results in loss of the patent's protection.
- It is the responsibility of the patent holder to enforce the patents they hold.
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