devise
Americanverb (used with object)
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devises,
present (3rd person singular)
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devised,
past participle, past
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devising
present participle
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to contrive, plan, or elaborate; invent from existing principles or ideas.
to devise a method.
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Theater. to develop (a play) collaboratively with the performers.
Based on the lives of women in engineering, the students devised the play themselves.
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Law. to assign or transmit (property) by will.
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Archaic. to imagine; suppose.
verb (used without object)
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devises,
present (3rd person singular)
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devised,
past participle, past
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devising
present participle
noun
verb
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to work out, contrive, or plan (something) in one's mind
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(tr) law to dispose of (property, esp real property) by will
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obsolete (tr) to imagine or guess
noun
Synonym Usage
See prepare.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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devisesimple
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devisessimple
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have devisedperfect
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has devisedperfect
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am devisingprogressive
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are devisingprogressive
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is devisingprogressive
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have been devisingperfect progressive
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has been devisingperfect progressive
Past
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devisedsimple
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had devisedperfect
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was devisingprogressive
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were devisingprogressive
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had been devisingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of devise
First recorded in 1150–1200; (verb) Middle English devisen “to inspect, design, compose,” from Old French deviser, from unattested Vulgar Latin dēvīsāre, for unattested dīvīsāre, frequentative of Latin dīvidere “to divide” ( see divide); (noun) see device
Explanation
To devise is to figure out a plan. Men twirling long mustaches might devise a plan to tie someone to the railroad tracks. To devise a plan is more than just making one; there's a lot of figuring out to do, such as: "Phoebe devised a bus route that picked up kids in alphabetical order." There's a method to the madness of devising. The chemistry class devised a plan to make the fire alarm go off. Devise can be positive, too, meaning to find a creative solution: "The design team devised a plan to make the trailer home look like a medieval castle."
Vocabulary lists containing devise
Jim Burke's Academic Vocabulary List
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Walk Two Moons
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The Things They Carried
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
"Diet holds great promise for controlling the microbiome and its outputs. But to devise effective therapeutic interventions, we need to understand what aspects of the diet control which microbial outputs."
From Science Daily ● Aug. 15, 2026
February 28: An FAA audit gives Boeing 90 days to devise a plan to significantly upgrade its quality control processes.
From Barron's ● Aug. 3, 2026
It would devise a plan "with its associations and in close co-operation with other confederations" to make sure this "cannot occur again"
From BBC ● Aug. 1, 2026
LAUSD’s action to devise new limits in April spurred interest in the issue across the nation, said Jodi Carreon, who co-runs the California chapter of the Distraction-Free Schools Policy Project, a leader in the movement.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 23, 2026
That knowledge may nevertheless inspire others, by idea diffusion, to devise their own routes to such a result.
From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond
He even devises a way to keep the goats corralled so that he doesn’t have to chase them down or use up his precious bullets and gunpowder.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 23, 2026
Rose Njeri was detained on Friday after police raided her home in the capital, Nairobi, and seized electronic devises, activists said.
From BBC ● Jun. 2, 2025
When other teachers begin to complain about having valuable items stolen in their lounge, she devises a trap.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 18, 2023
He said he has no problem sharing the carries with the Jets in whatever role coordinator Nathaniel Hackett devises for him in his offense.
From Seattle Times ● Aug. 29, 2023
He had joined the ranks of those ‘overcome with the incredible delight conceived of their own devises and inventions’.
From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton
When the Secret Service devised a plan to transport Bill Clinton from India to Pakistan in 2000, it was similar to the plan that Trump employed on July 8.
From Salon ● Aug. 14, 2026
U.S. officials allegedly devised the ruse after they became concerned about an Iranian threat to target Trump as he left Turkey, which borders Iran.
From Slate ● Aug. 11, 2026
This may involve putting additional checks and balances in place that would make it impossible for such a plan to be devised and presented in this way again.
From BBC ● Aug. 5, 2026
Japanese cities are experiencing "cruelly hot days", a new meteorological term devised this year to warn people of intense heat above 40C, with heatstroke alerts issued across almost the whole country.
From Barron's ● Jul. 22, 2026
Betting that his former KGB friends would offer him refuge, Blake devised a plan to escape to the East.
From "Spies: The Secret Showdown Between America and Russia" by Marc Favreau
It is a setup that Nicolas Jover, Arsenal's set-piece coach, would have noted before devising his own attacking plan.
From BBC ● Mar. 8, 2026
AllHere was best known for devising an automated system that could deliver messages to students and families that were individualized, but fell well short of what is commonly understood to be artificial intelligence.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 27, 2026
As a result, the company must set itself apart by devising new routes of drug delivery or dosing schedules that are more manageable for patients.
From Barron's ● Feb. 3, 2026
By devising a tax-efficient and multifaceted distribution strategy.
From MarketWatch ● Jan. 27, 2026
He is devising a plan to try to change all of this.
From "Blood on the River" by Elisa Carbone
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
