Word.ws English Dictionary

How to use contraption in a sentence

20 example sentences · noun

Contraption means a machine that is complicated and precarious. Example: “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.”

More sentences with contraption

  • 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.From the entry spanking
  • The whole contraption appears liable to spring apart at any moment.2012 April 21, Sydney Morning Herald, page 5. From the entry spring
  • She knows about bras, body slimmers, boy shorts, and the new contraption: a mirdle for the guys!2011, Sasha Charnin Morrison, Secrets of Stylists: An Insider's Guide to Styling the Stars, Chronicle Books, →ISBN, page 138. From the entry mirdle
  • Remember typewriters, those clattering, monitorless contraptions that were all the rage not so very long ago?2006, Deke McClelland, Adobe InDesign CS2 one-on-one. From the entry monitorless
  • Knowing that the public would be wary, Birdseye named the contraption a froster rather than a freezer.2004, Nancy Rubin, American Empress, page 140. From the entry froster
  • (Z stands for Zamboni, the Star-Warsy contraption that resurfaces the ice rink during a hockey game).1999, US Ad Review, numbers 32-33, page 185. From the entry Star-Warsy
  • But what is this contraption Greg Donaldson finished a month ago?1989 October 30, Jenny Labalme, “Donaldson's car is 'one-of-a-kind'”, in The Anniston Star, page 5A. From the entry hot wheels
  • Less than 15 years ago a bizarre contraption edged its way alongside a cherry-laden tree in Michigan.1973 July, “Breakthrough!”, in agricultural situation, U.S. Department of Agriculture, page 7. From the entry netful
  • Well, then, buy all the contraptions that are necessary, but don’t omit the plain gridirons and frying-pans.”1904, Carolyn Wells, “Shopping”, in Patty at Home, New York, N.Y.: Dodd, Mead & Company, →OCLC, page 63. From the entry frying-pan
  • So instead, I satisfied my craving with a bazookalike contraption capable of launching plastic bottles clear across my backyard.2016 February 24, William Gurstelle, “I Defend My Backyard With A Bottle Bazooka”, in Popular Science. From the entry bazookalike
  • Hence the elaborate airship contraptions and weapons, all made in wood and iron and powered by choo-choo engines.2011 October 26, John Lui, “Musketeers victim of identity crisis [review of The Three Musketeers (2011)]”, in The Straits Times (Life!…. From the entry steampunk
  • The ice kachang man would wait outside schools with his push cart and the contraption which could shave the ice blocks.2007, June Meyer, Memories of Malaya, Lulu.com, →ISBN, page 183. From the entry ice kachang
  • Natalie is game, and she takes the ball and puts it down the right hole of a multilevered contraption.2007 January 7, Tom Roston, “Natalie's Triumph”, in New York Times. From the entry multilevered
  • "I rigged up a contraption to hold off those stinking beasts, and I spent a happy day there with a spud."1912, Arthur Conan Doyle, The Lost World […], London; New York, N.Y.: Hodder and Stoughton, →OCLC. From the entry spud
  • It’s simple enough: Each partner must rip out a fingernail, wait a few minutes for a microwavelike contraption to inspect it, and voilà!2023 November 7, Shirley Li, “It’s a Miracle Anyone Stays in Love”, in The Atlantic. From the entry microwavelike
  • The models in the infomercial used it effortlessly, “abdominizing” their way to a flat stomach by doing sit-ups with the contraption for support.2019 January 11, “The retro piece of exercise equipment my parents couldn't give up”, in Vox. From the entry abdominize
  • She leapt from the porch straight in through the door and almost immediately tripped over the bouncinette, knocking the contraption over on its side.2013, Winsome Smith, Tales the Laundress Told: And Other Stories, page 15. From the entry bouncinette
  • The boot, thumbscrews, the shackles, and a contraption called the "warm hose", were only a few of the inflictions being too terrible to mention.1936, Rollo Ahmed, The Black Art, London: Long, page 221. From the entry boot
  • The locomotive was black, an ungainly contraption led by the triangular snout of the cowcatcher, though there would be few animals where this engine was headed.2016, Colson Whitehead, The Underground Railroad, Fleet (2017), page 83. From the entry cowcatcher
  • I followed the wire to a timing device, realized I had no expertise at all to disarm it, and chose instead to simply point the contraption away from Lance.2009, J. A. Knorath, Cherry Bomb. From the entry pigstick

Meaning of contraption

  1. noun A machine that is complicated and precarious.
  2. noun Any object.

Full definition of contraption

Questions about contraption in a sentence

How do you use contraption in a sentence?
Contraption is used as a noun. For example: “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.”
What is a short sentence with contraption?
“But what is this contraption Greg Donaldson finished a month ago?”
What does contraption mean?
Contraption means a machine that is complicated and precarious.

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: contraption (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this page: “How to use contraption in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/contraption. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.