-
Trending Now:
More Trending:
- admiral's mast calumny kakistocracy bona fide surrogate mother
- ALL
Definition of contrive
contrived
;contriving
transitive verb
1a : devise, plan contrive ways of handling the situation The prisoners contrived a way to escape.b : to form or create in an artistic or ingenious manner contrived household utensils from stone Native Americans contrived weapons out of stone, wood, and bone.
2 : to bring about by stratagem or with difficulty : manage he contrived to win their support
intransitive verb
: to make schemes
contriver
nounPeople Are Reading
Examples of contrive in a Sentence
The prisoners contrived a way to escape.
He contrived a meeting with the president.
Recent Examples of contrive from the Web
-
To cut this dynamic short, Republicans have contrived the conceit that the choice facing their party isn’t between fixing Obamacare and replacing it, but between replacing Obamacare and allowing single payer—
-
By taking a mixed versus matching approach to light and classic denim washes, Hadid kept the effect from feeling contrived.
-
City officials have contrived to make repaying the loan hurt as little as possible.
-
It’s also easy to dismiss this as an orchestrated, perhaps even contrived, effort to alter an image.
-
The deliveryman would contrive a reason to sit down and put the pizza on his lap — and open the top to reveal his own tumescent penis, popping up through a hole cut in the pizza.
-
But when the songs stop coming, it would be so contrived to try and force it.
-
While both are played by capable, if not somewhat bland, actors, their love story feels contrived and underdeveloped.
-
Other events are less successfully contrived in service of a political point.
These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'contrive'. Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Origin and Etymology of contrive
Middle English controven, contreven, from Anglo-French controver, contrever, from Medieval Latin contropare to compare, from Latin com- + Vulgar Latin *tropare to compose, find — more at troubadour
CONTRIVE Defined for English Language Learners
contrive
playDefinition of contrive for English Language Learners
-
: to form or think of (a plan, method, etc.)
-
: to form or make (something) in a skillful or clever way
-
: to make (something) happen in a clever way or with difficulty
CONTRIVE Defined for Kids
Learn More about contrive
-
See words that rhyme with contrive Thesaurus: All synonyms and antonyms for contrive Spanish Central: Translation of contrive Nglish: Translation of contrive for Spanish speakers Britannica English: Translation of contrive for Arabic speakers
Seen and Heard
What made you want to look up contrive? Please tell us where you read or heard it (including the quote, if possible).
Writing? Check your grammar now!