Contrive
Pronunciation
- Rhymes: -aɪv
Origin
Middle English contreve ("to invent"), from Old French controver (French controuver), from trover ("to find") (French trouver).
Full definition of contrive
Verb
- To form by an exercise of ingenuity; to devise; to plan; to scheme; to plot.
- HawthorneNeither do thou imagine that I shall contrive aught against his life.
- 1813, Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice, Modern Library Edition (1995), page 154...I cannot bear the idea of two young women traveling post by themselves. It is highly improper. You must contrive to send somebody.
- 1963, Margery Allingham, The China Governess Chapter 10, 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.
- To invent, to make devices; to form designs especially by improvisation.
- To project, cast, or set forth, as in a projection of light.