Contrivance

/kənˈtɹaɪ.vəns/ · noun

Meaning

A (mechanical) device to perform a certain task..

Definitions by Sense

1. A (mechanical) device to perform a certain task.
2. A means, such as an elaborate plan or strategy, to accomplish a certain objective.
3. Something overly artful or artificial.

Example Sentences

I mean to give something as slight and inexpensive as possible; but I have been so long out of the way of these things, that I am really quite at a loss, and must throw myself on your kindness, as I hope you will be with me, and also Mr. and Mrs. Gooch. You must arrange in such a manner as not to blush for your own contrivances.

And along with each of these go their images, not the things themselves, — they too have come about by godlike contrivance.

When the stamens of a flower suddenly spring towards the pistil, or slowly move one after the other towards it, the contrivance seems adapted solely to ensure self-fertilisation; and no doubt it is useful for this end: but, the agency of insects is often required to cause the stamens to spring forward, as Kölreuter has shown to be the case with the barberry; and curiously in this very genus, which seems to have a special contrivance for self-fertilisation, it is well known that if very closely-allied forms or varieties are planted near each other, it is hardly possible to raise pure seedlings, so largely do they naturally cross.

The Harry Hamlin character is a bit of a hypochondriac, a contrivance that exists for the sole purpose of bringing him into contact with the confused young doctor at the clinic.

The retrospective emphasis on these two specific stories—even their mention here, in the previous paragraph—has become a contrivance.

Synonyms for contrivance

Antonyms for contrivance

Related Words

Word Forms

• contrivances

Usage Notes

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