Contrivance

Definitions

1. A (mechanical) device to perform a certain task.
2. A means, such as an elaborate plan or strategy, to accomplish a certain objective.
3. Something overly artful or artificial.

Equivalents

Examples

“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.”

“And along with each of these go their images, not the things themselves, — they too have⟳ come⟳ about by godlike contrivance.”

“When the stamens of a flower suddenly spring⟳ towards the pistil, or slowly move⟳ one after the other towards it, the contrivance seems adapted solely to ensure self-fertilisation; and no doubt⟳ it is useful for this end⟳: but, the agency of insects is often required to cause the stamens to spring⟳ forward⟳, as Kölreuter has shown to be the case with the barberry; and curiously in this very genus, which seems to have⟳ a special contrivance for self-fertilisation, it is well known that if very closely-allied forms or varieties are planted near each other, it is hardly possible to raise⟳ pure seedlings, so largely do they naturally cross.”

“The Harry Hamlin character is a bit of a hypochondriac, a contrivance that exists for the sole purpose of bringing him into contact⟳ with the confused young doctor at the clinic.”

“The retrospective emphasis on these two specific stories—even their mention⟳ here, in the previous paragraph—has become⟳ a contrivance.”

CEFR level