What does “contrive” mean?
- 1
verbto manage to do something difficult, often by being clever
She contrived to get a ticket for the sold-out show.
- 2
verbto plan or invent something in a clever and sometimes dishonest way
They contrived a plan to escape from the prison.
Contrive at a glance
- Part of speech
- verb
- CEFR level
- C2 (proficient)
- Pronunciation
- /kənˈtraɪv/ · kun-TRYV
How to use “contrive” correctly
“Contrive to do something” sometimes has an ironic tone: “He contrived to lose the keys again.”
Synonyms, opposites and related words
Synonyms (similar meaning)
- devise
- engineer
- manage
Word family
- contrived
- contrivance
“contrive” is on these word lists
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