contrive

Middle English contreve (“to invent”), from Old French controver (French controuver), from trover (“to find”) (French trouver).

• IPA^(key): /kənˈtɹaɪv/
• Rhymes: -aɪv

contrive (third-person singular simple present contrives, present participle contriving, simple past and past participle contrived)

1. To invent by an exercise of ingenuity; to devise

   Synonyms: plan, scheme, plot, hatch

   • 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 10, in The China Governess‎:

     With a little manœuvring they contrived to meet on the doorstep which was […] in a boiling stream of passers-by, hurrying business people speeding past in a flurry of fumes and dust in the bright haze.

   • 1850, Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Scarlet Letter

     Neither do thou imagine that I shall contrive aught against his life.

   • 1813, Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice, Modern Library Edition (1995), page 154

     […] I cannot bear the idea of two young women traveling post by themselves. It is highly improper. You must contrive to send somebody.

2. To invent, to make devices; to form designs especially by improvisation.
3. To project, cast, or set forth, as in a projection of light.
4. (obsolete, transitive) To spend (time, or a period).

• becast
• cast about

• contrived
• contriver
• contrivance

• renovict