Contrivance: meaning, example and synonyms
Contrivancen. A cleverly devised device or scheme, often one that seems artificial or forced.
Example
The novel's ending relies on such an obvious contrivance, a long-lost letter found in a hollow tree, that critics doubted the author's command of plot.
- Part of speech
- noun
- Synonyms
- device, scheme, stratagem, gadget
- Antonyms
- natural outcome, spontaneity
- Memory tip
- Contrive = to invent; a contrivance is the clever invention itself.
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Check yourself: Contrivance in context
To lift water from the canal without electricity, the farmers built an ingenious ______ of buckets, ropes and a wooden wheel turned by a patient ox.
Answer: contrivance. Buckets, ropes and a wheel built to lift water make up a cleverly devised device: a contrivance. A foible (quirk), strife (conflict) and dispersion (scattering) are not devices.
Reviewers found the play's reunion scene unconvincing, calling the sudden appearance of the twin brother a transparent ______ the playwright had used to tie up loose ends.
Answer: contrivance. An artificial plot device used to tie up loose ends is a contrivance. A reproach is blame, dispersion is scattering, and a foible is a personal quirk, not a plot device.