How to Use contrive in a Sentence

contrive

verb

• The prisoners contrived a way to escape.
• He contrived a meeting with the president.
• There were so many things that contrived to guide us to this format.
  — Andy Greene, Rolling Stone, 6 Mar. 2023
• Trump shot back, claiming that her crowd sizes are contrived.
  — Mabinty Quarshie, Washington Examiner - Political News and Conservative Analysis About Congress, the President, and the Federal Government, 11 Sep. 2024
• The entire deal felt cheesy and contrived.
  — Los Angeles Times, 15 Mar. 2026
• One man even contrived somehow to get across while still in iron fetters.
  — Adam Goodheart, Smithsonian Magazine, 25 Sep. 2023
• Everything has been contrived with a short-term plan or long-term plan.
  — Liza Lentini, SPIN, 12 May 2023
• If any of her work were turned into a screenplay, there would be no need to contrive sets or costumes.
  — Washington Post, 2 Dec. 2020
• Now, parents don't have to contrive a scheme to keep their kids from eating too much candy in one day.
  — Hannah Yasharoff, USA TODAY, 21 Oct. 2020
• Ajax contriving to finish second having led by nine points with five games to go.
  — Phil Hay, New York Times, 19 May 2025
• This time, though, there’s no theme to contrive to fit; just look at the headlines about events and trends of the current day.
  — Washington Post, 10 June 2021
• That’s how the media contrive to shape our values and sense of history.
  — Armond White, National Review, 16 Feb. 2024
• The whole city, this vast, thirsty project sprouting from the desert, is contrived—and no less beautiful for it.
  — Will Bahr, The Atlantic, 23 Jan. 2025
• The movie’s attempt to capture the discord is contrived at best, laughable at worst.
  — Madison Bloom, Pitchfork, 10 Dec. 2024
• More than that, Houck somehow contrives to build violins as well.
  — Myung J. Chun, latimes.com, 27 Jan. 2017
• The work lies in making that interface feel truthful rather than contrived.
  — Kate Hardcastle, Forbes.com, 26 May 2026
• Emond’s script deftly contrives a third act that’s hopeful but still flecked with genuine despair.
  — Leslie Felperin, HollywoodReporter, 20 May 2025
• The arguments in favor of this working seem rather contrived.
  — Lee Billings, Scientific American, 21 May 2025
• Sure, much of the drama and plot feels contrived, but that’s true for many reality-show first seasons.
  — Olivia Crandall, Vulture, 29 Aug. 2025
• Athena’s husband’s problems are a little less of a ticking time bomb, but equally contrived.
  — Louis Peitzman, Vulture, 14 Nov. 2024
• Themes flow into the story from the Playhouse’s program in ways that don’t seem forced or contrived.
  — Christopher Tayler, Harpers Magazine, 27 Jan. 2026
• The state and energy are read out and used to contrive a new guess for the ground state configuration.
  — Chris Lee, Ars Technica, 14 Sep. 2017
• But while none of these scenes would look out of place on a postcard, there’s nothing contrived about Pittenweem.
  — Jessica MacDonald, Travel + Leisure, 4 Oct. 2024
• United’s fragile defense, though, nearly contrived to throw away the chance of glory.
  — Rob Harris, The Denver Post, 26 Feb. 2017
• There is a wryness to many of these poems, and some contrive a mordant introspection.
  — Frank Wilson, Philly.com, 19 Feb. 2018
• As a result, Liverpool no longer has to sweat so much for its victories or contrive to throw them away.
  — Zak Garner-Purkis, Forbes, 25 Nov. 2024
• That sounds like just the kind of deep strategy µZero and Artuµ would contrive.
  — Dr. Will Roper, Popular Mechanics, 19 Jan. 2021
• He is sometimes inspired to make a poor choice, but, as with the silent comedians of old, the universe will contrive to save him.
  — Robert Lloyd, Los Angeles Times, 7 June 2024
• That happens when the plot contrives to conveniently take both her husband and her father-in-law away from the house at the same time.
  — Kenneth Turan, Detroit Free Press, 27 July 2017
• The House may even contrive a reason to impeach the President, if only for the fun of it.
  — David Remnick, The New Yorker, 1 May 2022