Library / English Dictionary

DEVISE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

(law) a gift of real property by will

Classified under:

Nouns denoting possession and transfer of possession

Hypernyms ("devise" is a kind of...):

heritage; inheritance (that which is inherited; a title or property or estate that passes by law to the heir on the death of the owner)

gift (something acquired without compensation)

Domain category:

jurisprudence; law (the collection of rules imposed by authority)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A will disposing of real property

Classified under:

Nouns denoting possession and transfer of possession

Hypernyms ("devise" is a kind of...):

testament; will (a legal document declaring a person's wishes regarding the disposal of their property when they die)

Derivation:

devise (give by will, especially real property)

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Come up with (an idea, plan, explanation, theory, or principle) after a mental effort

Example:

excogitate a way to measure the speed of light

Synonyms:

contrive; devise; excogitate; forge; formulate; invent

Classified under:

Verbs of sewing, baking, painting, performing

Hypernyms (to "devise" is one way to...):

create by mental act; create mentally (create mentally and abstractly rather than with one's hands)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Sentence example:

Did he devise his major works over a short period of time?

Derivation:

devisal (the act of devising something)

deviser (a person who makes plans)

devising (the act that results in something coming to be)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Arrange by systematic planning and united effort

Example:

devise a plan to take over the director's office

Synonyms:

devise; get up; machinate; organise; organize; prepare

Classified under:

Verbs of sewing, baking, painting, performing

Hypernyms (to "devise" is one way to...):

initiate; pioneer (take the lead or initiative in; participate in the development of)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "devise"):

mount; put on (prepare and supply with the necessary equipment for execution or performance)

lay (prepare or position for action or operation)

set up (begin, or enable someone else to begin, a venture by providing the means, logistics, etc.)

sandwich (make into a sandwich)

spatchcock (prepare for eating if or as if a spatchcock)

embattle (prepare for battle or conflict)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

deviser (a person who makes plans)

devising (the act that results in something coming to be)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Give by will, especially real property

Classified under:

Verbs of buying, selling, owning

Hypernyms (to "devise" is one way to...):

bequeath; leave; will (leave or give by will after one's death)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

devise (a will disposing of real property)

devisee (someone to whom property (especially realty) is devised by will)

Credits

 Context examples: 

Goal: refine current models, create models that more closely parallel human cancers, devise efficient procedures that will make models available to all researchers who need them.

(Extraordinary Opportunity: Preclinical Models of Cancer, NCI Thesaurus)

A test devised by Dr. Virginia Apgar to assess the overall health of a newborn upon birth.

(Apgar Test, NCI Thesaurus)

Several years ago, Hurt began devising suits with graphene to protect workers against hazardous chemicals at environmental clean-up sites.

(Graphene shield shows promise in blocking mosquito bites, National Institutes of Health)

Now, Gordon Taylor of Stony Brook University and colleagues have devised a photochemical technique that suppresses fluorescence in sample preparation.

(Cell chemistry illuminated by laser light, National Science Foundation)

Supposing there was no mistake in the case, and Mr. Murdstone had devised this plan to get rid of me, what should I do?

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

Have you no sense to devise a system which will make you independent of all efforts, and all wills, but your own?

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

Feeling indignant that he was not taken into his tutor's confidence, he set his wits to work to devise some proper retaliation for the slight.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

And why it was not done already she could not devise, for Miss Crawford certainly wanted no delay.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

“By my ten finger-bones! old John,” said Aylward, “I would give my feather-bed to see you at a spear-running. This is a most courtly and gentle sport which you have devised.”

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

ARS scientists have devised a method to retool the compound so that it poses little to no danger to human or animal cells but can still kills germs.

(Soil Bacterium Tapped for Penicillin Guard Duty, U.S. Department of Agriculture)