How to Use contrive in a Sentence

contrive

verb
Definition of contrivenext
Synonyms for contrivenext
  • The prisoners contrived a way to escape.
  • He contrived a meeting with the president.
  • There were so many things that contrived to guide us to this format.
    — Andy Greene, Rolling Stone, 6 Mar. 2023
  • The setup feels forced, even contrived, at this late date.
    — Chris Willman, Variety, 24 Mar. 2024
  • This time, though, there’s no theme to contrive to fit; just look at the headlines about events and trends of the current day.
    — Washington Post, 10 June 2021
  • The soapy, silly fun bubbles along, contriving to keep the main characters connected — a ménage à quatre of great-looking people who can never quite settle on their happily ever afters.
    — Samantha Miller, Peoplemag, 15 Aug. 2024
  • The House may even contrive a reason to impeach the President, if only for the fun of it.
    — David Remnick, The New Yorker, 1 May 2022
  • One man even contrived somehow to get across while still in iron fetters.
    — Adam Goodheart, Smithsonian Magazine, 25 Sep. 2023
  • Everything has been contrived with a short-term plan or long-term plan.
    — Liza Lentini, SPIN, 12 May 2023
  • Now, parents don't have to contrive a scheme to keep their kids from eating too much candy in one day.
    — Hannah Yasharoff, USA TODAY, 21 Oct. 2020
  • That might be due to O.A.R.'s talent for ad libbing and contriving new ways to perform the same song.
    — Patrick Cooley, cleveland.com, 25 June 2017
  • That’s how the media contrive to shape our values and sense of history.
    — Armond White, National Review, 16 Feb. 2024
  • If any of her work were turned into a screenplay, there would be no need to contrive sets or costumes.
    — Washington Post, 2 Dec. 2020
  • That sounds like just the kind of deep strategy µZero and Artuµ would contrive.
    — Dr. Will Roper, Popular Mechanics, 19 Jan. 2021
  • The state and energy are read out and used to contrive a new guess for the ground state configuration.
    — Chris Lee, Ars Technica, 14 Sep. 2017
  • That happens when the plot contrives to conveniently take both her husband and her father-in-law away from the house at the same time.
    — Kenneth Turan, Detroit Free Press, 27 July 2017
  • He is sometimes inspired to make a poor choice, but, as with the silent comedians of old, the universe will contrive to save him.
    — Robert Lloyd, Los Angeles Times, 7 June 2024
  • More than that, Houck somehow contrives to build violins as well.
    — Myung J. Chun, latimes.com, 27 Jan. 2017
  • The link that connects the past to the present is one that only the most old-fashioned of fictional imaginations would dare to contrive.
    — Charles McNulty, latimes.com, 23 Oct. 2017
  • United’s fragile defense, though, nearly contrived to throw away the chance of glory.
    — Rob Harris, The Denver Post, 26 Feb. 2017
  • But today’s nicknames, many of them contrived, most of them barely known outside the clubhouse, whiff when matched against baseball’s best.
    — Patrick Saunders, The Denver Post, 10 Aug. 2019
  • There is a wryness to many of these poems, and some contrive a mordant introspection.
    — Frank Wilson, Philly.com, 19 Feb. 2018
  • And as friends, strangers and even the local news station join the herculean effort, clichéd stabs at greater meaning make this true story feel strangely contrived.
    — Jen Yamato, Washington Post, 20 Feb. 2024
  • Please, no more contrived hand-wringing and pearl-clutching about the Trump dictatorship.
    — Sun Sentinel Editorial Board, Sun Sentinel, 4 July 2024
  • Wilson was then sent clear with a long ball over the top, but the Cherries marksman contrived to stroke wide one-on-one with Elliot as his first-team rustiness reared its head at the wrong moment.
    — SI.com, 4 Nov. 2017
  • Somehow this small woman in a cotton sari and with a tidy gray bun contrived to put the place on the international tourist map, expanding its 4 rooms to 25 and adding a pool.
    — Guy Trebay, Condé Nast Traveler, 26 Feb. 2016
  • The deliveryman would contrive a reason to sit down and put the pizza on his lap — and open the top to reveal his own tumescent penis, popping up through a hole cut in the pizza.
    — Maureen O’Connor, The Cut, 11 June 2017
  • The economic plan is to pretend the bad news isn’t happening or contrive some distraction.
    — The Editorial Board, WSJ, 28 July 2022
  • Eventually the craft does take off, but never leaves the atmosphere, the better to contrive a parachute-free falling stunt for the big finish.
    — New York Times, 5 July 2018
  • All the same, The Malmedy Massacre is a solid account of history that current events have contrived to make exceptionally relevant.
    — Lawrence Douglas, Foreign Affairs, 17 June 2017

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'contrive.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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