contrivance

English

Etymology

From contrive +‎ -ance.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kənˈtɹaɪ.vəns/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Noun

contrivance (plural contrivances)

1. A (mechanical) device to perform a certain task; contraption.
2. A means, such as an elaborate plan or strategy, to accomplish a certain objective.
   • 1838 (date written), L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XVI, in Lady Anne Granard; or, Keeping up Appearances. […], volume I, London: Henry Colburn, […], published 1842, →OCLC, page 208:

     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.

   • 1982 February 13, Walta Borawski, “A Moonlight Walk in a Crimeless Park”, in Gay Community News, volume 9, number 29, page 7:

     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.

   • 2005, Plato, translated by Lesley Brown, Sophist, page 266b:

     And along with each of these go their images, not the things themselves, — they too have come about by godlike contrivance.

3. Something overly artful or artificial.
   • 1859, Charles Darwin, On the Origin of Species:

     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.

Synonyms

• contraption

Derived terms

• noncontrivance

Related terms

• contrive

Translations

(mechanical) device to perform a certain task

• Bulgarian: приспособление (bg) n (prisposoblenie)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 玩意兒 / 玩意儿 (zh) (wányìr)

• Finnish: rekkula, vimpain (fi), vempele (fi)
• French: appareil (fr) m, dispositif (fr) m
• German: Vorrichtung (de) f, Maschinerie (de) f, Apparat (de) m, Behelf (de) m
• Italian: aggeggio (it) m, marchingegno (it) m
• Polish: urządzenie (pl) n, ustrojstwo (pl) n
• Portuguese: aparelho (pt) m
• Romanian: aparat (ro) n, dispozitiv (ro) n
• Russian: устро́йство (ru) n (ustrójstvo), приспособле́ние (ru) n (prisposoblénije)
• Spanish: aparato (es) m

elaborate means to accomplish an objective

• Bulgarian: средство (bg) n (sredstvo), способ (bg) m (sposob)
• French: stratagème (fr) m
• German: Vorrichtung (de) f, Erfindung (de) f, Plan (de) m, Kniff (de) m, List (de) f, Kunstgriff (de) m, Planung (de) f, Findigkeit (de) f
• Italian: stratagemma (it) m, artefizio m, espediente (it) m, accorgimento (it) m, sotterfugio (it) m
• Polish: inwencja (pl) f, pomysłowość (pl) f
• Portuguese: artifício (pt) m, artimanha (pt) f
• Russian: зате́я (ru) f (zatéja), план (ru) m (plan), вы́думка (ru) f (výdumka)
• Spanish: artificio (es) m, artimaña (es) f, estratagema (es) f

something overly artful or artificial

• Bulgarian: хитрина (bg) f (hitrina), похват (bg) m (pohvat)
• Dutch: vernuft (nl) n, vindingrijkheid (nl) f
• Italian: catorcio (it) m, trabiccolo (it) m, carretta (it) f
• Polish: sztuczność (pl) f
• Russian: ухищре́ние (ru) n (uxiščrénije), ухва́тка (ru) f (uxvátka)
• Spanish: artefacto (es) m, artilugio (es) m

Further reading

• “contrivance”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “contrivance”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.