a printed punctuation mark (‽), available only in some typefaces, designed to combine the question mark (?) and the exclamation point (!), indicating a mixture of query and interjection, as after a rhetorical question.
to plan with ingenuity; devise; invent: The author contrived a clever plot.
2.
to bring about or effect by a plan, scheme, or the like; manage: He contrived to gain their votes.
3.
to plot (evil, treachery, etc.).
verb (used without object)
4.
to form designs; plan.
5.
to plot.
Origin: 1275–1325; Middle English contreven < Middle French contreuv-, tonic stem of controver to devise, invent, Old French: to decide, agree upon < Late Latin contropāre to compare, equivalent to con-con- + *tropāre (> French trouver to find; see trover); development of vowel unclear