Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun The act of contriving.
- noun The state of being contrived.
- noun Something contrived, as a mechanical device or a clever plan.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun The act of contriving, inventing, devising, or planning the disposition or combination of things or acts, for a particular purpose.
- noun The thing contrived, planned, or invented; a device, especially a mechanical one; an artifice; a scheme; a stratagem.
- noun Synonyms 2. Plan, invention, design; machination, stratagem; Device, Shift, etc. See
expedient , n.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun The act or faculty of contriving, inventing, devising, or planning.
- noun The thing contrived, invented, or planned; disposition of parts or causes by design; a scheme; plan; artifice; arrangement.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun a (
mechanical )device toperform a certaintask - noun a
means , such as anelaborate plan orstrategy , toaccomplish a certainobjective - noun something overly
artful orartificial
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun an elaborate or deceitful scheme contrived to deceive or evade
- noun an artificial or unnatural or obviously contrived arrangement of details or parts etc.
- noun any improvised arrangement for temporary use
- noun the faculty of contriving; inventive skill
- noun the act of devising something
- noun a device or control that is very useful for a particular job
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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When the level of narrative contrivance is such that anything can happen or be forgotten in the space of a week, then nothing matters.
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The contrivance is seen to hold a function, and it is recognized by its inherent design.
Ambiguity Tolerance 2008
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A contrivance is some abstract contortion that is said to describe reality, except that the contrivance comes with a felt emotionality that may invite deeper revelation, or the emotionality may come off as deceptive.
Ambiguity Tolerance 2008
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Although the Down East accents of the lyrics are a Hammerstein contrivance, the setting is harshly realistic in ways we tend to forget, perhaps because we usually think of Maine as a scenic travel destination.
Out of Our Dreams 2002
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Although the Down East accents of the lyrics are a Hammerstein contrivance, the setting is harshly realistic in ways we tend to forget, perhaps because we usually think of Maine as a scenic travel destination.
Out of Our Dreams 2002
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What else would you call a contrivance that can take you to cities where ancient civilizations once flourished?
SERPENT CLIVE CUSSLER 2000
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What else would you call a contrivance that can take you to cities where ancient civilizations once flourished?
SERPENT CLIVE CUSSLER 2000
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Sir Thomas had indeed proposed to her at the ball, an event which reflected great credit on her mama's sagacity, if not upon her skill in contrivance; I rather incline to the belief that she had first laid her plans, and then predicted their success.
Agnes Grey 1931
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The life of this contrivance is short when used in open stopes, owing to the dangers of bombardment from blasting.
Principles of Mining Valuation, Organization and Administration Herbert Hoover 1919
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All mechanical contrivance is habit materialised; it is continued action without any effort of will, except in the beginning.
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The act of writing in beats merely to tie together disparate elements is literally called a contrivance.
The Real Cost of Good Movies (And How To Pay For It) DB 2023
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