contrive
verb (used with object)
to plan with ingenuity; devise; invent.
has contrived
-
present perfectof contrive (3rd person singular).present perfect
Used to describe actions that started in the past and continue into or have direct relevance to the present.
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.
An antigovernment paranoiac, she has contrived to disappear from public records and hides away inside a New York ministorage unit.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 10, 2026
Daisy exists alongside other sounding boards — a doctor played by Alfre Woodard, a Russian gardener played by Simon Helberg — that the screenwriter Rebecca Banner has contrived in place of characters.
From New York Times ● Mar. 30, 2023
But Watford’s win against Liverpool was a measure of the uplift one of the season’s less likely appointments has contrived.
From The Guardian ● Mar. 2, 2020
Haynes, who is concurrently editing his documentary on the Velvet Underground and developing a twelve-part TV series on Sigmund Freud, has contrived to keep himself almost continually in that climate of surrender.
From The New Yorker ● Nov. 4, 2019
Now I realize that Kwang has contrived that the girl is here for me.
From "Native Speaker" by Chang-rae Lee
