Word.ws English Dictionary

How to use contrive in a sentence

10 example sentences · verb

Contrive means to invent by an exercise of ingeniosity; to devise. Example: “His girlfriend, his mother, and the Society of Vampires contrive to make his new unlife difficult.”

More sentences with contrive

  • His girlfriend, his mother, and the Society of Vampires contrive to make his new unlife difficult.1998, Patricia Altner, Vampire Readings: An Annotated Bibliography, page 132. From the entry Adragon
  • The offense could contrive a variety of laydowns to intensify the defense's problems.1984, Ashton B. Carter et al., Ballistic Missile Defense, →ISBN, page 141. From the entry laydown
  • For, of all contriving to encover space, the arch — alone or 'circulared' into the dome — is the most ingenious.2008, Donald E. Wagner, Kenneth Cragg, Dying in the Land of Promise, page 116. From the entry circular
  • That should sustain a landing while we contrive something longer-term.2007, Josepha Sherman, Susan Shwartz, Epiphany, page 5. From the entry superharden
  • Using the techniques already explored, we can contrive to activate a coding triplet in any one of those four extremal corners.2005, Paul Churchland, “Chimerical colors: some phenomenological predictions from cognitive neuroscience”, in Philosophical Psychology…. From the entry hyperbolic
  • Lucy was strangely cheerful, animated with the sort of optimism that only a Hollywood scriptwriter could shamelessly contrive.2000, J. Lilly, The Cold Zone, iUniverse, →ISBN, page 115. From the entry gloomy goose
  • At this point, we could all write a tell-all about our tabloid childhoods and contrive an autobiographical performance about the pleasures of humiliation.1998, Laurie Stone, Close to the Bone: Memoirs of Hurt, Rage, and Desire, page xi. From the entry tell-all
  • "A fine couple of contriving minxes!1969, Erich Kästner, translated by Cyrus Brooks, Lottie and Lisa, New York, N.Y.: Knopf, →OCLC. From the entry lead someone up the garden path
  • "Sandra is our professional remembrancer - continuity is her usual work, so we regard it as particularly thoughtful of providence to contrive her presence here just now."1951, John Wyndham, The Day of the Triffids, Harmondsworth: Penguin Books, published 1954, page 105. From the entry remembrancer
  • "And the extent of your achievement has been to contrive a vulgar imposture—in the guise of an ingenious inventor to swindle society by a sham automaton that doesn't even work."1923, Ernest Bramah [pseudonym; Ernest Brammah Smith], “(please specify the page)”, in The Eyes of Max Carrados, London: Grant Richards…. From the entry imposture

Meaning of contrive

  1. verb To invent by an exercise of ingeniosity; to devise.
  2. verb To invent, to make devices; to form designs especially by improvisation.
  3. verb To project, cast, or set forth, as in a projection of light.

Full definition of contrive

Questions about contrive in a sentence

How do you use contrive in a sentence?
Contrive is used as a verb. For example: “His girlfriend, his mother, and the Society of Vampires contrive to make his new unlife difficult.”
What is a short sentence with contrive?
“"A fine couple of contriving minxes!”
What does contrive mean?
Contrive means to invent by an exercise of ingeniosity; to devise.

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: contrive (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 contrive in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/contrive. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.