What Exactly is a contraption?

English has a number of words that can be used as general terms for mechanical or electronic devices, including gadget, gizmo, widget, and contraption. In addition to their meaning, these four words also have a couple of other things in common. First, they are all relative newcomers to the language. The oldest, contraption, entered the language around 1825. Second, the origins of all four are a bit of a mystery (well, widget is believed to be an alteration of gadget, but the origins of gadget are unknown-it didn't appear in print until 1886, but is believed to have been used among sailors perhaps as far back as the mid-1800s). Contraption, may be a blend of contrivance (which can be used as another synonym of gadget), trap, and invention.

Examples of contraption in a Sentence

The people wondered how the contraption worked. built a contraption for automatically buttering toast

Recent Examples on the Web Even then, few thought that the fragile new contraption would ever amount to more than a novelty. — David Hambling, Forbes, "Inventor Warned That Latest Test Of ‘Impossible’ Space Drive Was Fatally Flawed," 9 Apr. 2021 The London outfit has not yet provided detailed information regarding the novel contraption save for a breathtaking, two-minute video on Vimeo. — Rachel Cormack, Robb Report, "Meet the Hydrosphere, a Glass ‘Elevator’ That Turns Your Superyacht Into an Underwater Aquarium," 26 Mar. 2021 The Solo Stove Lite Stove is a stainless steel contraption that pulls in air through the holes in its base to help the sticks and twigs inside combust. — Rob Verger, Popular Science, "Go camping in style and comfort with these gifts," 11 Dec. 2020 This meant the sled would slam to a stop against a wall of liquid, smashing Stapp’s bones and organs against whatever contraption of webbing or straps was on the menu. — Rachel Lance, Wired, "A Race Car Crash From Hell—and the Science That Saved Its Driver," 6 Dec. 2020 The new villains have bold designs and visually interesting powers; my favorite is the Tether Tyrant, who wears a contraption around his torso that spits out long pink tethers that look like tongues. — Oliver Sava, Vulture, "Invincible Recap: Growing Pains," 9 Apr. 2021 Although his eight-legged contraption—which featured four actuators in each leg—never actually made it to the ring, Cusack saw the value that such a competition brings to the learning process. — Larry Greenemeier, Scientific American, "Robot Sumo Tourney Pushes Students' Innovative Skills," 25 May 2016 The entire contraption weighs less than two pounds and packs into a small mesh bag about the size of a sneaker. — Wes Siler, Outside Online, "How to Build a Home Gym for Less than a Membership," 29 Mar. 2021 The folks who look after San Francisco’s stray dogs and cats are terribly excited about the porcelain contraption on the roof of the city’s brand new, $77 million animal shelter. — Steve Rubenstein, San Francisco Chronicle, "Take a tour through S.F.'s new, $77 million animal shelter, complete with a dog toilet," 26 Mar. 2021

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'contraption.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.