an arrangement of five objects, as trees, in a square or rectangle, one at each corner and one in the middle.
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.
an extraordinary or unusual thing, person, or event; an exceptional example or instance.
a stew of meat, vegetables, potatoes, etc.
a screen or mat covered with a dark material for shielding a camera lens from excess light or glare.
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
Related forms
con·triv·a·ble, adjective
con·triv·er, noun
pre·con·trive, verb, -trived, -triv·ing.
un·con·triv·ing, adjective
Synonyms 1. design, concoct. See prepare.3. conspire, scheme. 5. connive.
early 14c., from O.Fr. controver "to find out, contrive, imagine," from V.L. contropare "to compare" (via a figure of speech), from L. com- "with" + tropus "song, musical mode," from Gk. tropos "figure of speech" (see trope). Sense evolution (in French) was from "invent with