1
as in devising
to create or think of by clever use of the imagination
contrived abstract metal sculptures using old household utensils
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in plotting
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 negotiating
to plan out usually with subtle skill or care
contrived a way of planning the surprise party without their catching on to it
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
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Recent Examples of contriving
The profligacy, for sure, with Everton contriving to surrender a 1-0 lead in the space of eight remarkable second-half minutes in which defender Jake O’Brien was also sent off.
—
Patrick Boyland, New York Times, 11 Feb. 2026
Director Ellenstein had the aha moment earlier this decade of contriving a work about Eisenhower and the accomplished playwright and Orange County native, Richard Hellesen, took on the task of writing it.
—Christopher Smith, Oc Register, 20 Jan. 2026
By eschewing salaries, lobbying Congress to gut the estate tax, and contriving elaborate writeoffs and work-arounds, the very rich have placed much of their wealth beyond the reach of the state.
—The New Yorker, New Yorker, 22 Dec. 2025
Patrick Boyland, New York Times, 11 Feb. 2026
Director Ellenstein had the aha moment earlier this decade of contriving a work about Eisenhower and the accomplished playwright and Orange County native, Richard Hellesen, took on the task of writing it.
—Christopher Smith, Oc Register, 20 Jan. 2026
By eschewing salaries, lobbying Congress to gut the estate tax, and contriving elaborate writeoffs and work-arounds, the very rich have placed much of their wealth beyond the reach of the state.
—The New Yorker, New Yorker, 22 Dec. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for contriving
Verb
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Among the iconic polymath’s many (many) achievements, the 15th century thinker is famous for devising an angled contraption to help his experiments exploring friction physics.—
Andrew Paul,
Popular Science,
25 Feb. 2026
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Health ministry officials and the ministry of trade are also devising tax breaks to incentivize local manufacturing, said Modise.—
Alexis Akwagyiram,
semafor.com,
20 Feb. 2026
Verb
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Canada is not the only country that has accused Indian officials of plotting an assassination on foreign soil.—
ABC News,
ABC News,
27 Feb. 2026
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Ready to start plotting your own Athens adventure?—
Stacey Leasca,
Travel + Leisure,
26 Feb. 2026
Verb
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Neither the public nor private side began with a champion negotiating binding requirements before contracts were finalized or construction started.—
Ed Gaskin,
Boston Herald,
27 Feb. 2026
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That means protecting benefits already earned while negotiating responsible adjustments for future accruals, exploring constitutional pathways for reform and offering voluntary buyout incentives to reduce long-term liabilities.—
Chicago Tribune,
Chicago Tribune,
27 Feb. 2026
Verb
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Reporters including Sheen can be seen concocting covert plots to meet with them face to face, the success or failure of which briefly becomes an intense point of interest.—
Siddhant Adlakha,
Variety,
17 Feb. 2026
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The reality is that the AI is concocting elaborate personas, faking as though humans are writing about human woes.—
Lance Eliot,
Forbes.com,
29 Jan. 2026
Verb
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The victims were women whom the attacker had come to him after arranging a date on an escort application, police said.—
Adam Harrington,
CBS News,
26 Feb. 2026
-
Top with butter pieces, arranging evenly over surface.—
Sarah Martens,
Better Homes & Gardens,
25 Feb. 2026
Verb
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As soon as the telescope began observations, the team started constructing a static reference image of the entire sky in impeccable detail.—
Meghan Bartels,
Scientific American,
26 Feb. 2026
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The enviable problem in constructing their roster is that the Padres have multiple other viable candidates to log relief innings.—
Kevin Acee,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
25 Feb. 2026
Verb
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Employees at the company, then known as Facebook, proposed a public audit of design features that might contribute to compulsive use of the platform in the fall of 2018, citing growing public concern that tech companies were intentionally manipulating users, according to the documents.—
CNN,
Mercury News,
24 Feb. 2026
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Employees at the company, then known as Facebook, proposed a public audit of design features that might contribute to compulsive use of the platform in the fall of 2018, citing growing public concern that tech companies were intentionally manipulating users, according to the documents.—
Clare Duffy,
CNN Money,
23 Feb. 2026
Verb
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Soldiers of the Army National Guard’s 28th Infantry Division have won an award for inventing a drone that uses a mechanism similar to an arcade claw machine to retrieve downed drones.—
Chris Young,
Interesting Engineering,
23 Feb. 2026
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The kid isn’t inventing injuries.—
Jerry Brewer,
New York Times,
23 Feb. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Contriving.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/contriving. Accessed 4 Mar. 2026.
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