The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Innovation \In`no*va"tion\, n. [L. innovatio; cf. F.
   innovation.]
   1. The act of innovating; introduction of something new, in
      customs, rites, commercial products, etc. --Dryden.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. A change effected by innovating; a change in customs;
      something new, and contrary to established customs,
      manners, or rites. --Bacon.
      [1913 Webster]

            The love of things ancient doth argue stayedness,
            but levity and lack of experience maketh apt unto
            innovations.                          --Hooker.
      [1913 Webster]

   3. (Bot.) A newly formed shoot, or the annually produced
      addition to the stems of many mosses.
      [1913 Webster]

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):

innovation
    n 1: a creation (a new device or process) resulting from study
         and experimentation [syn: invention, innovation]
    2: the creation of something in the mind [syn: invention,
       innovation, excogitation, conception, design]
    3: the act of starting something for the first time; introducing
       something new; "she looked forward to her initiation as an
       adult"; "the foundation of a new scientific society" [syn:
       initiation, founding, foundation, institution,
       origination, creation, innovation, introduction,
       instauration]

Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:

44 Moby Thesaurus words for "innovation":
   advance guard, alteration, archetype, authenticity, avant-garde,
   breakthrough, coinage, creativeness, creativity, deviation,
   discovery, freshness, introduction, invention, inventiveness,
   latest fad, latest fashion, latest wrinkle, leap, model,
   modernization, mutation, neologism, new departure, new look,
   new phase, newfangled device, newness, nonimitation, novelty,
   original, originality, pattern, permutation, pilot model,
   prototype, sport, the in thing, the last word, the latest thing,
   uniqueness, vanguard, vicissitude, wrinkle



Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856):

INNOVATION, Scotch law. The exchange of one obligation for another, so that
the second shall come in the place of the first. Bell's Scotch Law Dict. h.
t. The same as Novation. (q. v.)