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CONTRIVED
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (adjective)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Artificially formal
Example:
when people try to correct their speech they develop a stilted pronunciation
Synonyms:
artificial; contrived; hokey; stilted
Classified under:
Similar:
affected; unnatural (speaking or behaving in an artificial way to make an impression)
Sense 2
Meaning:
Showing effects of planning or manipulation
Example:
a novel with a contrived ending
Classified under:
Similar:
planned (designed or carried out according to a plan)
II. (verb)
Sense 1
Past simple / past participle of the verb contrive
Context examples:
Messner regarded her in a way that was almost paternal, what of the profundity of pity and patience with which he contrived to suffuse it.
(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)
Captain Harville was no reader; but he had contrived excellent accommodations, and fashioned very pretty shelves, for a tolerable collection of well-bound volumes, the property of Captain Benwick.
(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)
Mrs. Norris contrived to remove one article from his sight that might have distressed him.
(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)
Perchance Sir Nigel, with his love of all the dying usages of chivalry, might have contrived some strange ordeal or feat of arms by which his love should be put to the test.
(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
A fortnight later, by excellent good fortune, the doctor gave one of his pleasant dinners to some five or six old cronies, all intelligent, reputable men and all judges of good wine; and Mr. Utterson so contrived that he remained behind after the others had departed.
(The Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson)
We then went upstairs together, and having entered the room and seen the dressing-gown hanging up behind the door, I contrived, by upsetting a table, to engage their attention for the moment, and slipped back to examine the pockets.
(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
Maud even contrived, at times when all my efforts could not budge the windlass, to hold the turn with one hand and with the other to throw the weight of her slim body to my assistance.
(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)
I observed this also and contrived a fan of branches, which roused the embers when they were nearly extinguished.
(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)
But the queen had before contrived another project.
(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)
If it can be contrived to be at the Crown, papa, it will be very convenient for the horses.
(Emma, by Jane Austen)
