contrive
verb/kənˈtɹaɪv/
Etymology From Middle English contreve (“to invent”), from Old French controver (Modern French controuver), from trover (“to find”) (French trouver).
1
To invent by an exercise of ingeniosity; to devise
- […]I cannot bear the idea of two young women traveling post by themselves. It is highly improper. You must contrive to send somebody.1813 January 27, [Jane Austen], Pride and Prejudice: […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), London: […] [George Sidney] for T[homas] Egerton, […], →OCLC:
- Neither do thou imagine that I shall contrive aught against his life.1850, Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Scarlet Letter:
1 more example
- 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.1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 10, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC:
2
To invent, to make devices; to form designs especially by improvisation.
3
To project, cast, or set forth, as in a projection of light.
4
Obsolete To spend (time, or a period).
- Synonyms
- becast, cast about
- Derived terms
- contrivable, contrivance, contrived, contrivement, contriver, precontrive, recontrive, uncontriving