contrivance
/kənˈtɹaɪ.vəns/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: 2.28 in modern English
18
Scrabble Score
11
Letters
3
Syllables
9
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A (mechanical) device to perform a certain task.
noun
Example Sentences
- "I mean to give something as slight and inexpensive as possible; but I have been so long out of the way of these things, that I am really quite at a loss, and must throw myself on your kindness, as I hope you will be with me, and also Mr. and Mrs. Gooch. You must arrange in such a manner as not to blush for your own contrivances."
- "And along with each of these go their images, not the things themselves, — they too have come about by godlike contrivance."
- "When the stamens of a flower suddenly spring towards the pistil, or slowly move one after the other towards it, the contrivance seems adapted solely to ensure self-fertilisation; and no doubt it is useful for this end: but, the agency of insects is often required to cause the stamens to spring forward, as Kölreuter has shown to be the case with the barberry; and curiously in this very genus, which seems to have a special contrivance for self-fertilisation, it is well known that if very closely-allied forms or varieties are planted near each other, it is hardly possible to raise pure seedlings, so largely do they naturally cross."
- "The Harry Hamlin character is a bit of a hypochondriac, a contrivance that exists for the sole purpose of bringing him into contact with the confused young doctor at the clinic."
- "The retrospective emphasis on these two specific stories—even their mention here, in the previous paragraph—has become a contrivance."
Etymology
Etymology tree English contrive Proto-Indo-European *-onts Latin -ns Latin -āns Proto-Indo-European *-(i)yós Proto-Italic *-ijos Proto-Italic *-ios Old Latin -ios Latin -ius Latin -ia Latin -āntia Old French -ancebor. Middle English -aunce English -ance English contrivance From contrive + -ance.