I. kən.ˈtrīv verb
( -ed/-ing/-s )
Etymology: alteration of Middle English contreven, controven, from Middle French controver, from Late Latin contropare to compare, from Latin com- + Late Latin -tropare (perhaps from Latin tropus metaphor, trope, figure of speech) — more at trope
transitive verb
1.
a. : devise , plan , plot
contrive means of meeting
b. : to fabricate as a work of art or ingenuity : design , invent
from stone, wood, shell, and bone the Indians contrived … household utensils — American Guide Series: Tennessee
2. now dialect : to find out : understand
3. obsolete : to form, shape, lay out, or adapt by contrivance
the whole shire contrived into 33 hundreds — John Speed
4. : to bring about by stratagem or with difficulty : effect , manage — often followed by the infinitive
he contrived to win the cooperation … of Voltaire, Buffon — Times Literary Supplement
intransitive verb
: to make devices : form plans, schemes, or designs : plan , scheme , plot
if we were perfectly satisfied with the present we should cease to contrive , to labor, and to save for the future — T.B.Macaulay
Synonyms:
devise , invent , frame , concoct : contrive may suggest ingenuity and cleverness in planning or effecting
a couple of neighboring farmers in a village will contrive and practice as many tricks to overreach each other at the next market — Earl of Chesterfield
the little dress that Maman had so cleverly contrived out of two Empire scarves — Anne D. Sedgwick
you have come here to cast me off and artfully contrive that it should appear to be my doing — T.L.Peacock
Sometimes it applies to a deliberate cleverness in factitious works
the contrived simplicity of the novel — C.C.Walcutt
devise may suggest reflection, analysis, and experimentation continued over a considerable period
Paterson gradually shifted from cotton to silk manufacture after 1840, when John Ryle devised a way of winding silk on a spool — American Guide Series: New Jersey
a real science — as well as a real philosophy — of human nature could not be born until there were devised techniques of accurate observation and verified experiment — H.A.Overstreet
within a year they had devised the “Pond alphabet” of the Sioux language — American Guide Series: Minnesota
invent may connote more of finding, discovering, making, or making up than of ingenuity or reflection
Newton invented the differential and the integral calculus and discovered the laws of motion — K.K.Darrow
1856, when simultaneously Bessemer invented his converter and Siemens introduced the open-hearth process — S.F.Mason
his pains to invent a complete, generally unlovely terminology of his own — H.J.Muller
he did not know the schoolteacher's name but invented one for her — Sherwood Anderson
I invented a monster called Hormuz, who lived in the woods behind the town and devoured little children — John Reed
frame in this sense suggests a careful devising and constructing to fit a situation
framing legislation which may make valuable contributions to a badly needed national water policy — K.S.Davis
absorbed in framing a question that he was intent on persuading a friend, who was a member of Parliament, to ask in the House of Commons — Osbert Sitwell
concoct may suggest devising by ingenious or inventive combining of ingredients
the most loathsome and noisome abominations that his fervid imagination could concoct out of his own bitter experiences and the manners and customs of his cruel times — C.W.Eliot
II. transitive verb
( -ed/-ing/-s )
Etymology: Latin contriv-, perfect stem of conterere to bruise, grind, consume, exhaust — more at contrite
obsolete : to wear away : consume : pass
contrive time