devised

American  

[dih-vahyzd] / dɪˈvaɪzd /

adjective

1. contrived, planned, invented, or designed.

   It’s a dark comedy about a couple of guys who embark on a poorly devised scheme to blackmail a local clergyman.

2. Theater. (of a play) having a script produced collaboratively by the performers rather than by a writer or playwright.

   Previous works of the Holwell Youth Troupe include a chilling ghost story and a devised piece on the topic of love.

3. Law. (of property) assigned or transmitted by will.

   When specifically devised property is no longer in the testator's estate, the beneficiary's gift fails.

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verb

1. the simple past tense and past participle of devise.

Other Word Forms

• self-devised adjective
• undevised adjective
• well-devised adjective

Etymology

Origin of devised

devise ( def. ) + -ed ² ( def. )

Example Sentences

Most ingenious of all are the soap bubbles, devised by Mr. Forman, an MIT doctoral student, that drift around the stage as whirling snow.

From The Wall Street Journal

The author surmises that Goebbels discovered this and devised a way to get rid of her—sending Ruth out of Germany while simultaneously helping Japan establish a spy network in Hawaii.

From The Wall Street Journal

Instead, McLaren devised what it called the Papaya Rules: Norris and Piastri were free to race each other and the road would decide which one would win his first F1 championship.

From The Wall Street Journal

“Denny devised a miniature radio plane, remote-controlled, which became the basis for drones in World War II,” and was used to train fighter pilots, Wanamaker says.

From Los Angeles Times

He devised a code to record every letter he received, with each letter writer identified by initials and the last two numbers of their ZIP Code.

From The Wall Street Journal