contraption
Syllables: con·trap·tionUK/kənˈtɹæp.ʃən/
contraption noun: a machine that is complicated and precarious.
Noun
contraption (plural contraptions)
- A machine that is complicated and precarious.
- Any object.
- “Yes, sir, if that was the language of love, I'll eat my hat,” said the blood relation, alluding, I took it, to the beastly straw contraption in which she does her gardening, concerning which I can only say that it is almost as foul as Uncle Tom's Sherlock Holmes deerstalker, which has frightened...1960, P[elham] G[renville] Wodehouse, chapter XII, in Jeeves in the Offing, London: Herbert Jenkins, →OCLC
contraption meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
contraption in Hindi
- complicated and precarious machine
- यंत्र yantra, यन्त्र yantra, जन्तर jantar
contraption in Tamil
- போலித்தனமான சமாளிப்புக் கருவி, விசித்திரக் கட்டமைப்புடைய பொறி
contraption in Marathi
- complicated and precarious machine
- यंत्र yantra
contraption in Urdu
- contraption
- آلہ ālah
More languagesFewer languages
- contraption in Bengali
- অদ্ভুত যন্ত্র, কৌশল
- contraption in Malayalam
- സൂത്രം, യന്ത്രപ്പണി, സൂത്രപ്പണിയന്ത്രം, സങ്കീർണ്ണമായ യന്ത്രം
- contraption in Odia
- ଯନ୍ତ୍ର jantra, ଜନ୍ତ୍ର jantra
- contraption in Sanskrit
- यन्त्र yantra
Examples of contraption in a sentence
- Domestic spanking is often endured over the knee (or lap), formal spanking rather applied over a contraption such as a trestle or A-frame, with or without constraints.
- The whole contraption appears liable to spring apart at any moment.
- She knows about bras, body slimmers, boy shorts, and the new contraption: a mirdle for the guys!
Synonyms of contraption
Forms of contraption
| plural | contraptions |
|---|
Origin of contraption
Possibly a Western US English dialectal word of unknown origin. First attested in the early 19th century. Perhaps from contrive + trap + -tion, while also possibly approximating construction. Chambers suggests contrivance + adaption. Neither Chambers nor Concise Oxford suggests a US origin. Compare cantrip, cantrap (Scots dialect), a wilful piece of trickery.
Words formed from contraption
- contraptionary
- contraptor
Questions about contraption
- What does contraption mean?
- Contraption means a machine that is complicated and precarious.
- What is contraption in Hindi?
- Contraption in Hindi is यंत्र (yantra), यन्त्र (yantra), जन्तर (jantar). See Contraption meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is contraption?
- Contraption is a noun.
- How do you pronounce contraption?
- Contraption is pronounced /kənˈtɹæp.ʃən/ (UK).
- What is the plural of contraption?
- The plural of contraption is contraptions.
Words near contraption in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: contraption (page history and authors); contraption (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); آلہ (Urdu) (page history and authors); Contraption (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); contraption (Olam, E.K. Kurup corpus) (dataset and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-contraption.ogg, en-au-contraption.ogg.
Cite this entry: “contraption.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/contraption. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.