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Meaning of CONTRIVANCE

Pronunciation:  kun'trIvuns

WordNet Dictionary
 
 Definition: 
  1. [n]  the act of devising something
  2. [n]  a device that very useful for a particular job
  3. [n]  any improvised arrangement for temporary use
  4. [n]  the faculty of contriving; inventive skill; "his skillful contrivance of answers to every problem"
  5. [n]  an artificial or unnatural or obviously contrived arrangement of details or parts etc.; "the plot contained too many improbable contrivances to be believable"
  6. [n]  an elaborate or deceitful scheme contrived to deceive or evade; "his testimony was just a contrivance to throw us off the track"
 
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 Synonyms: appliance, contraption, convenience, devisal, dodge, gadget, gismo, gizmo, lash-up, stratagem, widget
 
 See Also: arrangement, arrangement, conception, design, device, excogitation, gadgetry, gimbals, injector, innovation, invention, invention, mod con, organisation, organization, patch, plant, scheme, strategy, system, temporary hookup, wangle, wangling

 

 

Webster's 1913 Dictionary
 
 Definition: 
\Con*triv"ance\, n.
1. The act or faculty of contriving, inventing, devising, or
   planning.
         The machine which we are inspecting demonstrates, by
         its construction, contrivance and design.
         Contrivance must have had a contriver. --Paley.
2. The thing contrived, invented, or planned; disposition of
   parts or causes by design; a scheme; plan; atrifice;
   arrangement.
         Government is a contrivance of human wisdom to
         provide for human wants.              --Burke.
Syn: Device; plan; scheme; invention; machine; project;
     design; artifice; shift. See {Device}.
 
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Thesaurus Terms
 
 Related Terms: 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, Charlie McCarthy, 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
 

 

 

 

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