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There’s something inventive about devise, a word that stems from Latin dividere, meaning “to divide.” By the time devise was being used in English, its Anglo-French forebear deviser had accumulated an array of senses, including “divide,” “distribute,” “arrange,” “order,” “plan,” “invent,” and “assign by will.” English adopted some of these and added new senses, such as “imagine” and “guess,” that have fallen out of use over time. Today devise is most commonly used as a synonym of invent or plot in situations where the objective is difficult or complicated. Note that devise is often confused with another dividere (and deviser) descendent: device refers to a technique, method, tool, or small machine or gadget. One way to help keep their spellings straight is to remember that ice, usually a noun, is found at the end of the noun device, not the verb devise.
Examples of devise in a Sentence
Los Angeles Times, 12 June 2026
In this case, the team devised a way to directly merge the mechanophores as cross-links into common polymers.
—Shirl Leigh
june 10, New Atlas, 10 June 2026
The team’s Mediterranean Programme was devised in response to the exponential risk of extinction to the sea’s nearly 80 species of shark and ray.
—Charlotte Reck, CNN Money, 9 June 2026
Multiple researchers futilely attempted to devise strategies to work around this antibody, to no avail.
—Joshua Mezrich, STAT, 9 June 2026
See All Example Sentences for devise
Cite this Entry
“Devise.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/devise. Accessed 14 Jun. 2026.
Copy CitationLegal Definition
devise
2 of 2 nounNote: Formerly devise was used to refer only to gifts of real property, and legacy and bequest were used only to refer to gifts of personal property. These distinctions are no longer closely followed. The Uniform Probate Code uses devise to refer to any gifts made in a will.
Note: Executory devises were invented as a way of getting around the rule in Shelley's case, which is now largely abolished.
Transitive verb
Anglo-French deviser to divide, share, bequeath, ultimately from Latin dividere to divide
