[1] : The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48

contrivance \contriv"ance\, n.
   1. the act or faculty of contriving, inventing, devising, or
      planning.
      1913 webster

            the machine which we are inspecting demonstrates, by
            its construction, contrivance and design.
            contrivance must have had a contriver. --paley.
      1913 webster

   2. the thing contrived, invented, or planned; disposition of
      parts or causes by design; a scheme; plan; artifice;
      arrangement.
      1913 webster

            government is a contrivance of human wisdom to
            provide for human wants.              --burke.

   syn: device; plan; scheme; invention; machine; project;
        design; artifice; shift. see device.
        1913 webster
see also:
device 

[2] : WordNet (r) 2.0

contrivance
     n 1: a device that is very useful for a particular job syn: appliance,
           contraption, convenience, gadget, gizmo, gismo,
           widget
     2: the faculty of contriving; inventive skill; "his skillful
        contrivance of answers to every problem"
     3: an elaborate or deceitful scheme contrived to deceive or
        evade; "his testimony was just a contrivance to throw us
        off the track" syn: stratagem, dodge
     4: an artificial or unnatural or obviously contrived
        arrangement of details or parts etc.; "the plot contained
        too many improbable contrivances to be believable"
     5: any improvised arrangement for temporary use syn: lash-up
     6: the act of devising something syn: devisal
see also:
appliance contraption convenience gadget gizmo gismo 
widget stratagem dodge lash-up devisal 

[3] : Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0

244 moby thesaurus words for "contrivance":
   charlie mccarthy, action, ad hoc measure, agent, anagnorisis,
   ancilla, angle, answer, apparatus, appliance, approach,
   architectonics, architecture, argument, arrangement, art,
   artful dodge, artifice, atmosphere, attack, authorship, background,
   beginning, blind, blueprint, blueprinting, brainchild, cabal,
   calculation, catastrophe, characterization, charting, chicanery,
   coinage, collusion, color, complication, complicity, complot,
   conception, concoction, confederacy, connivance, conspiracy,
   continuity, contraption, contriving, countermove, counterplot,
   coup, course of action, covin, craft, creation, creative effort,
   creature, cute trick, deceit, deep-laid plot, demarche, denouement,
   design, development, device, devising, disposition, dodge, dummy,
   dupe, effort, engineering, enterprise, envisagement, episode,
   expedient, fable, fabrication, fakement, falling action, feint,
   fetch, figuring, finagling, finesse, foresight, forethought,
   frame-up, gadget, gambit, game, generation, gimcrack, gimmick,
   gizmo, go-between, graphing, grift, ground plan, guidelines,
   hand tool, handmaid, handmaiden, hatching, idea, implement,
   improvisation, incident, instrument, intention, interagent,
   intermediary, intermediate, intermedium, intrigue, invention,
   jugglery, jury-rig, jury-rigged expedient, knavery, last expedient,
   last resort, last shift, layout, lever, line, lineup, little game,
   local color, long-range plan, machination, makeshift, making do,
   maneuver, maneuvering, manipulation, mapping, master plan, means,
   measure, mechanical device, mechanism, mediator, medium, method,
   methodology, midwife, minion, mintage, mood, motif, move, movement,
   mythos, operations research, organ, organization, origination,
   pawn, peripeteia, pis aller, plan, planning, planning function,
   plaything, plot, plotting, ploy, power tool, prearrangement,
   precision tool, procedure, program, program of action, puppet,
   racket, rationalization, recognition, red herring, resort,
   resource, rigging, rising action, ruse, schedule, schema,
   schematism, schematization, scheme, scheme of arrangement,
   schemery, scheming, secondary plot, servant, setup, shake-up,
   shift, slant, slave, sleight, solution, speed tool, step, stooge,
   stopgap, story, stratagem, strategic plan, strategy, stroke,
   stroke of policy, structure, subject, subplot, subterfuge, switch,
   system, systematization, tactic, tactical plan, tactics,
   temporary expedient, the big picture, the picture,
   thematic development, theme, tone, tool, topic, toy, trick,
   trickery, trump, twist, underplot, utensil, vehicle, way,
   web of intrigue, wile, wily device, wire-pulling,
   working hypothesis, working plan, working proposition

Contrivance >> C Words
Contrivance, definition of term: Contrivance
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