devise
to contrive, plan, or elaborate; invent from existing principles or ideas: to devise a method.
Theater. to develop (a play) collaboratively with the performers: Based on the lives of women in engineering, the students devised the play themselves.
Law. to assign or transmit (property) by will.
Archaic. to imagine; suppose.
Law.
the act of disposing of property, especially real property, by will.
a will or clause in a will disposing of property, especially real property.
the property so disposed of.
Origin of devise
1synonym study For devise
Other words from devise
- de·vis·er, noun
- pre·de·vise, verb (used with object), pre·de·vised, pre·de·vis·ing.
Words that may be confused with devise
- device, devise
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
British Dictionary definitions for devise
/ (dɪˈvaɪz) /
to work out, contrive, or plan (something) in one's mind
(tr) law to dispose of (property, esp real property) by will
(tr) obsolete to imagine or guess
a disposition of property by will
the property so transmitted: Compare bequeath (def. 1)
a will or clause in a will disposing of real property: Compare bequest (def. 2)
Origin of devise
1Derived forms of devise
- deviser, noun
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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