Word.ws English Dictionary

devised

Syllables: de·vised/dɪˈvaɪzd/

devised is the simple past and past participle of devise.

Meaning of devise

Verb

devise (third-person singular simple present devises, present participle devising, simple past and past participle devised)

  1. (transitive) To use one’s intellect to plan or design (something).
    • Near-synonyms: lay, set, design, plan, create
    Synonyms:
    lay, set, design, plan, create
  2. (transitive) To leave (property) in a will.
  3. (archaic, intransitive) To form a scheme; to lay a plan; to contrive; to consider.
    • I thought, devised, and Pallas heard my prayer.1725, Homer, “Book IX”, in [William Broome], transl., The Odyssey of Homer. […], volume II, London: […] Bernard Lintot, →OCLC
  4. (archaic, transitive) To plan or scheme for; to plot to obtain.
    • For wisedome is most riches; fooles therefore / They are, which fortunes doe by vowes deuize,1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book VI, Canto IX”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 30
  5. (obsolete) To imagine; to guess.
    • I do protest I neuer iniur’d thee,
      But lou’d thee better then thou can’st deuise:
      Till thou shalt know the reason of my loue.c. 1591–1595 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Romeo and Ivliet”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and...

See all 9 meanings of devise

Words formed from devised

Questions about devised

What is devised the simple past and past participle of?
Devised is the simple past and past participle of devise.
How do you pronounce devised?
Devised is pronounced /dɪˈvaɪzd/.

Words near devised in the dictionary

  1. devisability
  2. devisable
  3. devisal
  4. devisals
  5. devise
  6. devised
  7. devisedst
  8. devisee
  9. devisees
  10. devisement
  11. devisements

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: devised (page history and authors); devise (page history and authors). 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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Cite this entry: “devised.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/devised. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.