Meaning & use
ideating
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“ideating” is a form of “ideate”. See that entry for the full set of meanings.
Meanings
verbintransitivebusiness
Coming up with new ideas, often as a group in a creative or design process.
Grammar: Usually has no object: the team is ideating.
Patterns
- ideate on something
- ideate with someone
The designers spent the morning ideating on new packaging.
We are ideating with the client to find a name for the product.
She enjoys ideating in small groups with a whiteboard.
verbtransitivetechnical
Forming an idea or mental picture of something.
Grammar: Takes an object: ideating a solution.
Patterns
- ideate something
He is ideating a new product line for next spring.
The students were ideating ways to cut food waste.
They are ideating solutions to the traffic problem.
Word forms
| third person singular | ideates |
|---|---|
| past tense | ideated |
| past participle | ideated |
| -ing form | ideating |
Common combinations
- ideating together
- The team spent the afternoon ideating together.
- ideating on solutions
- We are ideating on solutions for the app.
- ideating session
- The ideating session produced forty ideas.
- ideating in groups
- Ideating in groups can spark more creativity.
- ideating around a problem
- They are ideating around the budget problem.
Synonyms and how they differ
- brainstorming
- Brainstorming is the more familiar everyday word, while ideating sounds like design or business jargon.
- thinking up
- Thinking up is casual and fits a single idea, while ideating suggests a structured process.
- conceiving
- Conceiving is more formal and often refers to forming one big plan, whereas ideating is about producing many ideas.
- imagining
- Imagining stresses picturing something in your mind, while ideating stresses producing usable ideas.
Word family
- ideate verb
- the base verb meaning to form ideas
- ideation noun
- the process of forming ideas
- idea noun
- a thought or plan
- ideational adjective
- relating to the forming of ideas
Commonly confused: ideating or idealizing?
ideating vs idealizing
Idealizing means treating something as perfect, while ideating means coming up with ideas.
Practice
The design team is ___ for the new logo this afternoon.
Choose one answer.
Ideating means generating ideas, which fits a design meeting. Idolizing and idling have different meanings, and ideals is a noun.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “ideating”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.