ideate
Cook up notions
To ideate is to form ideas or concepts, especially in a creative or brainstorming context.
The word appears frequently in business and design settings: We spent the morning ideating solutions to the packaging problem.
It carries a whiff of corporate jargon—one can simply say think or brainstorm—but it usefully emphasizes the generative phase of creative work, before ideas are evaluated or refined.
Spontaneous idea generation
- envisionPicture in thought
- conceptualizeForm a mental picture
- formulateCreate methodically
- theorizeForm explanatory suppositions
synthesize · cogitate · notion · hypothesize · postulate · speculate · abstract · premise
Spontaneous idea generation
- prototypeFirst functional specimen
- draftPreliminary version of text
- sketchHasty informal drawing
- formulateCreate methodically
outline · develop · generate · originate · conceive · design · blueprint · scheme
Spontaneous idea generation
- disruptInterrupt and disorder
- prototypeFirst functional specimen
- iterateRepeat a process cyclically
- pivotPoint of rotation
breakthrough · hackathon · incubate · entrepreneurship · startup · accelerator · cutting-edge · venture
brainstorm
Spontaneous idea generation
- envisionPicture in thought
- conceptualizeForm a mental picture
- formulateCreate methodically
theorize · synthesize · cogitate · notion · hypothesize · postulate · speculate · abstract · premise · concept
brainstorm
Spontaneous idea generation
formulate · outline · develop · generate · originate · conceive · design · blueprint · scheme · visualize
brainstorm
Spontaneous idea generation
pivot · breakthrough · hackathon · incubate · entrepreneurship · startup · accelerator · cutting-edge · venture · design-thinking
prototype
First functional specimen
- brainstormSpontaneous idea generation
- tinkerMender of metal household wares
- engineerTechnical design professional
invention · breakthrough · devise · contrive · originate · pioneer · discover · fabricate · innovate · concoct
envision
Picture in thought
- visualizeForm mental pictures
- daydreamConscious fantasy while awake
- fantasyImaginative mental wandering
dream · picture · conjure · fancy · reverie · vision · conceive · imagine · visualization · dreamscape
- innovationinnovation, invention, innovative, innovate, breakthrough
- inventinvent, devise, create, conceive, come up with
- corporate jargonsynergy, stakeholders, deep dive, circle back, leverage
- planningplan, planned, planners, to-do lists, calendars
- chew overchew, ruminate, mull over, ponder, contemplate
- startup jargonMVP, fail fast, scaling, unicorn, disrupt
- no ideaComplete lack of knowledge
- have no ideaLack all knowledge
- bright ideaClever sudden thought
- big ideaAmbitious transformative concept
- get the ideaComprehend the point
- rough ideaImprecise initial concept
idea, ideal, ideas, idealistic, ideally, idealism, idealize, idealist, idealized