Usage of "contrivance"

A device or control that is very useful for a particular job.

Any improvised arrangement for temporary use.

The act of devising something.

An elaborate or deceitful scheme contrived to deceive or evade.

Usage of contrivance in English

Demonstrator refuses to use Lindbergh's name to be garbled by the contrivance. 
 The new yorker 

The water was heated by an electric contrivance in the bathroom itself. 
 Odd John 

Or is the identity of Mr Golightly too much of a contrivance? 
 The Guardian 

We're forced to conclude it's because the movie wouldn't exist without the contrivance. 
 Reuters 

And very well, too, these were the days of every possibility and contrivance. 
 Engine Summer 

The control board before me was a compact contrivance about five feet square. 
 Armageddon 2419 A. D. 

It was a mechanical contrivance constructed from shreds of metallic paper. 
 Faerie Lord 

As a contrivance to have superheroes switch allegiances, it works fine. 
 The Irish Times 

Why do we admit design in any machine of human contrivance? 
 The portable atheist: essential readings for the nonbeliever 

Gatsby is a contrivance, a performance, a seductive chimera, a fraud. 
 The Guardian 

The movie is so cleverly plotted that you'll appreciate every contrivance. 
 News.com.au 

Our starting point was the clumsy contrivance used to retain water in the washbasin. 
 The new yorker 

They are the only authentic things in a sea of contrivance and bad faith. 
 The Irish Times 

Fittingly, the Tour's visit was a contrivance that only Kelly could have pulled off. 
 The Irish Times 

The bright vim of genre formulae allows O'Kelly every narrative contrivance, coincidence and implausibility. 
 The Irish Times 

Who would have expected the flimsy contrivance not to collapse? 
 The Heart of the Matter 

Contrivance through the time

Frequent collocations

More collocations

Meanings of contrivance in English