Dictionary Definition
contrivance
Noun
1 a device that is very useful for a particular
job [syn: appliance,
contraption,
convenience,
gadget, gizmo, gismo, widget]
2 the faculty of contriving; inventive skill;
"his skillful contrivance of answers to every problem"
3 an elaborate or deceitful scheme contrived to
deceive or evade; "his testimony was just a contrivance to throw us
off the track" [syn: stratagem, dodge]
4 an artificial or unnatural or obviously
contrived arrangement of details or parts etc.; "the plot contained
too many improbable contrivances to be believable"
5 any improvised arrangement for temporary use
[syn: lash-up]
6 the act of devising something [syn: devisal]
User Contributed Dictionary
English
Etymology
See etymology of "to contrive".Noun
- a (mechanical) device to perform a certain task
- a means, such as an elaborate plan or strategy, to accomplish a certain objective
- something overly artful or artificial
Usage notes
See usage note at device.Translations
a (mechanical) device to perform a certain task
- German: Vorrichtung
a means, such as an elaborate plan plan or
strategy, to accomplish a certain objective
- German: Vorrichtung, Erfindung
something overly artful or artificial
- ttbc Portuguese: artifício
Related terms
Synonyms, Antonyms and Related Words
Charlie McCarthy, action, ad hoc measure, agent, anagnorisis, ancilla, angle, answer, apparatus, appliance, approach, architectonics, architecture, argument, arrangement, art, artful dodge, artifice, atmosphere, attack, authorship, background, beginning, blind, blueprint, blueprinting, brainchild, cabal, calculation, catastrophe, characterization,
charting, chicanery, coinage, collusion, color, complication, complicity, complot, conception, concoction, confederacy, connivance, conspiracy, continuity, contraption, contriving, countermove, counterplot, coup, course of action, covin, craft, creation, creative effort,
creature, cute trick,
deceit, deep-laid plot,
demarche, denouement, design, development, device, devising, disposition, dodge, dummy, dupe, effort, engineering, enterprise, envisagement, episode, expedient, fable, fabrication, fakement, falling action,
feint, fetch, figuring, finagling, finesse, foresight, forethought, frame-up,
gadget, gambit, game, generation, gimcrack, gimmick, gizmo, go-between, graphing, grift, ground plan, guidelines, hand tool,
handmaid, handmaiden, hatching, idea, implement, improvisation, incident, instrument, intention, interagent, intermediary, intermediate, intermedium, intrigue, invention, jugglery, jury-rig, jury-rigged
expedient, knavery, last
expedient, last resort, last shift, layout, lever, line, lineup, little game, local color,
long-range plan, machination, makeshift, making do, maneuver, maneuvering, manipulation, mapping, master plan, means, measure, mechanical device,
mechanism, mediator, medium, method, methodology, midwife, minion, mintage, mood, motif, move, movement, mythos, operations research,
organ, organization, origination, pawn, peripeteia, pis aller,
plan, planning, planning function,
plaything, plot, plotting, ploy, power tool, prearrangement, precision
tool, procedure,
program, program of
action, puppet, racket, rationalization,
recognition, red
herring, resort, resource, rigging, rising action, ruse, schedule, schema, schematism, schematization, scheme, scheme of arrangement,
schemery, scheming, secondary plot,
servant, setup, shake-up, shift, slant, slave, sleight, solution, speed tool, step, stooge, stopgap, story, stratagem, strategic plan,
strategy, stroke, stroke of policy,
structure, subject, subplot, subterfuge, switch, system, systematization,
tactic, tactical plan,
tactics, temporary
expedient, the big picture, the picture, thematic development,
theme, tone, tool, topic, toy, trick, trickery, trump, twist, underplot, utensil, vehicle, way, web of intrigue, wile, wily device, wire-pulling,
working hypothesis, working plan, working
proposition