contrivance
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English
[edit]Etymology
[edit]Pronunciation
[edit]Noun
[edit]contrivance (plural contrivances)
- A (mechanical) device to perform a certain task; contraption.
- A means, such as an elaborate plan or strategy, to accomplish a certain objective.
- 1838 (date written), L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XVI, in Lady Anne Granard; or, Keeping up Appearances. […], volume I, London: Henry Colburn, […], published 1842, →OCLC, page 208:
- I mean to give something as slight and inexpensive as possible; but I have been so long out of the way of these things, that I am really quite at a loss, and must throw myself on your kindness, as I hope you will be with me, and also Mr. and Mrs. Gooch. You must arrange in such a manner as not to blush for your own contrivances.
- 2005, Plato, translated by Lesley Brown, Sophist, page 266b:
- And along with each of these go their images, not the things themselves, — they too have come about by godlike contrivance.
- Something overly artful or artificial.
Synonyms
[edit]Derived terms
[edit]Related terms
[edit]Translations
[edit](mechanical) device to perform a certain task
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elaborate means to accomplish an objective
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something overly artful or artificial
Further reading
[edit]- “contrivance”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
- “contrivance”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.