as in strained
lacking in natural or spontaneous quality
the contrived applause of a TV studio audience that has been told when to clap
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
1
as in concocted
to create or think of by clever use of the imagination
contrived abstract metal sculptures using old household utensils
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in plotted
to engage in a secret plan to accomplish evil or unlawful ends
the mischievous boys were always contriving and trying to pull the prank that would be the talk of the school
Synonyms & Similar Words
3
as in negotiated
to plan out usually with subtle skill or care
contrived a way of planning the surprise party without their catching on to it
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of contrived
Nate Freeman, Vanity Fair, 11 Mar. 2026
Perhaps more meaningfully, the message is the antithesis of a contrived political pitch or a hectoring sermon.
—Philip Elliott, Time, 26 Feb. 2026
Jennifer McRae, CBS News, 23 Feb. 2026
This time, specific references were stripped away, leaving only a distillation of the dark rage evoked by metal and punk, equal parts elemental and contrived.
—Rachel Wetzler, Artforum, 1 Feb. 2026
See All Example Sentences for contrived
Adjective
The hundreds of millions of people who follow her are aware of this disconnect and embrace the contrived aspect of her persona in a way that’s more meta than classic Hollywood hero worship.
—Nate Freeman, Vanity Fair, 11 Mar. 2026
Perhaps more meaningfully, the message is the antithesis of a contrived political pitch or a hectoring sermon.
—Philip Elliott, Time, 26 Feb. 2026
Verb
Jefferson County Sheriff's Office Prosecutors with the First Judicial District Attorney's Office claim Heskett contrived a story that he had been attacked by a man near a trail in the state park.
—Jennifer McRae, CBS News, 23 Feb. 2026
This time, specific references were stripped away, leaving only a distillation of the dark rage evoked by metal and punk, equal parts elemental and contrived.
—Rachel Wetzler, Artforum, 1 Feb. 2026
See All Example Sentences for contrived
Recent Examples of Synonyms for contrived
Adjective
-
Last year, Hernández played in just one rehab game returning from a strained groin.—
Maddie Lee,
Los Angeles Times,
30 May 2026
-
Large parts of its war effort are now unmanned, the robots, drones, and remotely piloted tanks giving it a sudden, albeit fragile, edge over a lumbering and strained Russian invader.—
Nick Paton Walsh,
CNN Money,
30 May 2026
Verb
-
With the trend away from toxic chemical control of plant pests and diseases, treatment formulas concocted from benign household products are on the rise.—
Joshua Siskin,
Oc Register,
28 May 2026
-
Their fragrances were always concocted around a storyline.—
Jennifer Weil,
Footwear News,
20 May 2026
Verb
-
In performance and direction, and in the small ways in which Caswell and Wills have plotted out this isolated love story, there’s a level of great richness and detail.—
Jackson McHenry,
Vulture,
3 June 2026
-
Nearly all the tracks are rigorously plotted within the modal grammar of Hindustani classical music.—
Arman Khan,
Pitchfork,
1 June 2026
Verb
-
The police negotiated the release of two hostages on Tuesday.—
Escher Walcott,
PEOPLE,
3 June 2026
-
In fact, the city would be adopting a version of the reform agreement Louisville had previously negotiated with the Biden administration and hiring an outside monitor to oversee its progress.—
Topher Sanders,
ProPublica,
2 June 2026
Adjective
-
Lewis oversaw workshops with school kids himself, traveling to schools in his free time, staging mock trials and handing out copies of legal documents, like the Constitution.—
Miami Herald,
Miami Herald,
31 May 2026
-
Each year, a different brother played Paddy, lying in the coffin, where he was roasted by a series of mock eulogies.—
Peter Hessler,
New Yorker,
31 May 2026
Verb
-
For this, Merighi found two Italian academics, Francesco Bof and Sergio Venturini, who devised a system to go from the events on the pitch to a final score for each player at the end of every game.—
Jack Pitt-Brooke,
New York Times,
2 June 2026
-
The commonly mistaken base assumption is that the greatest minds that have devised AI and consumed so much money doing so must certainly know every iota of how AI works.—
Lance Eliot,
Forbes.com,
1 June 2026
Verb
-
But Cepeda and Petro on Sunday night sowed doubt in the result and claimed — so far without evidence — that hundreds of thousands of votes were manipulated and that foreign actors interfered with the result.—
Megan Janetsky,
Los Angeles Times,
1 June 2026
-
This person set him up and was manipulated in many ways.—
Laura Sirikul,
Forbes.com,
1 June 2026
Adjective
-
In a nearby tent was Zuhoor Musa Abdul Rahman, a 30-year-old housewife who recounted with unnatural calm the horrors that spurred her to flee El Fasher, a city some 300 miles east of Obeid.—
Nabih Bulos,
Los Angeles Times,
24 May 2026
-
Only Maddie saw the unnatural, violent pull back inside, and most of the scares that follow likewise blur the line between reality and fantasy.—
Elena Lazic,
Variety,
24 May 2026
Cite this Entry
“Contrived.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/contrived. Accessed 5 Jun. 2026.
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