CONTRIVANCE • FREE-TRANSLATOR.COM • Definition of Contrivance

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/kəntrˈaɪvəns/ Listen

noun

Contrivance n.

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."

The thing contrived, invented, or planned; disposition of parts or causes by design; a scheme; plan; artifice; arrangement. "Government is a contrivance of human wisdom to provide for human wants."

Synonyms: Device; plan; scheme; invention; machine; project; design; artifice; shift. See Device.

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Etymology of 'Contrivance'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Contrivance" Quotes from Famous Books

... would have been a fit matter for speculation. But it was not that at which Grabman chuckled; he laughed, first because it was an emblem of the utter childishness and folly of the creature he was leaving penniless, and secondly, because it furnished his ready wit with a capital contrivance to shift Beck's indignation from his own shoulders to a party more liable to suspicion. He left the coral on the floor near the bed, stole down the ladder, reached his own room, took up his brief-bag, ...

— Lucretia, Complete • Edward Bulwer-Lytton

... lib. viii. chap. 12. The contrivance of this illusion was possibly like that at Delphi, where in the centre of the temple was a chasm, from which arose an intoxicating smoke, when the priestess was to announce divine revelations. Seated over the chasm upon ...

— The Superstitions of Witchcraft • Howard Williams

... it is the most simple and beautiful contrivance I ever saw. And there's only one thing ...

— Put Yourself in His Place • Charles Reade

... perfection of detail one of these old fireplaces—a delight to the soul of the antiquary. Every homely utensil and piece of furniture, every domestic convenience and inconvenience, every home-made makeshift, every cumbrous and clumsy contrivance of the old-time kitchen here may be found, and they show to us, as in a living photograph, the home ...

— Customs and Fashions in Old New England • Alice Morse Earle

... breathing melodiously. Satisfied on this point, Evan opened a commodious wardrobe near the bed, threw down some clothing, spread it out smoothly, and then stepping within, he drew the doors together, fastening them by a hook of his own contrivance, on the inside; for Evan had made this wardrobe do service before. Then he laid himself down as comfortably as possible, and applied his eye to some small holes punctured in the dark wood, and quite ...

— The Diamond Coterie • Lawrence L. Lynch

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