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See the Origin of Ideate
Like idea and ideal, ideate comes from the Greek verb idein, which means "to see." The sight-thought connection came courtesy of Plato, the Greek philosopher who based his theory of the ideal on the concept of seeing, claiming that a true philosopher can see the essential nature of things and can recognize their ideal form or state. Early uses of idea, ideal, and ideate in English were associated with Platonic philosophy; idea meant "an archetype" or "a standard of perfection," ideal meant "existing as an archetype," and ideate referred to forming Platonic ideas. But though ideate is tied to ancient philosophy, the word itself is a modern concoction, relatively speaking. It first appeared in English only about 400 years ago.
Synonyms
Examples of ideate in a Sentence
Casey Clark, Parents, 20 Sep. 2024
His primary role is to ideate and drive the Edge Solution Strategy,...
—John Lockhart, Forbes, 11 Sep. 2024
To ideate her brand’s next chapter, Huda Kattan is going back to her roots.
—James Manso, WWD, 13 Aug. 2024
Those willing to participate and evolve with consumers are seeing opportunities to ideate and create in ways that highlight both the consumers’ interest and the creator’s message.
—Partner Content, Variety, 13 Aug. 2024
See all Example Sentences for ideate 
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'ideate.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Dictionary Entries Near ideate
Cite this Entry
“Ideate.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ideate. Accessed 5 Nov. 2024.
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