contrive
English edit
Etymology edit
From Middle English contreve (“to invent”), from Old French controver (Modern French controuver), from trover (“to find”) (French trouver).
Pronunciation edit
Verb edit
contrive (third-person singular simple present contrives, present participle contriving, simple past and past participle contrived)
- To invent by an exercise of ingenuity; to devise
- 1813 January 27, [Jane Austen], Pride and Prejudice: […], volumes (please specify |volume=I to III), London: […] [George Sidney] for T[homas] Egerton, […], →OCLC:
- […] I cannot bear the idea of two young women traveling post by themselves. It is highly improper. You must contrive to send somebody.
- 1850, Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Scarlet Letter:
- Neither do thou imagine that I shall contrive aught against his life.
- 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 10, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC:
- With a little manœuvring they contrived to meet on the doorstep which was […] in a boiling stream of passers-by, hurrying business people speeding past in a flurry of fumes and dust in the bright haze.
- To invent, to make devices; to form designs especially by improvisation.
- To project, cast, or set forth, as in a projection of light.
- (obsolete, transitive) To spend (time, or a period).
Synonyms edit
Derived terms edit
Translations edit
To form by an exercise of ingenuity; to devise; to plan; to scheme; to plot
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To invent, to make devices; to form designs especially by improvisation
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To project, cast, or set forth, as in a projection of light
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