Link Centre Dictionary

contrivance

cont·ri·vance

UK/kənˈtɹaɪ.vəns/ US/kʌˈntraɪvʌns/ fairly common

noun

1.
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”
Synonyms
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

Synonyms
6.

the act of devising something

Synonyms

Origin

From contrive + -ance.

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Word family

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WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.