contrive
verb (used with object)
to plan with ingenuity; devise; invent.
was contriving
-
past progressiveof contrive.past progressive
Used to describe an ongoing action or continuous state that was happening at a specific time in the past.
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.
She had bought a fine point-head, which she was contriving to conceal from the custom-house officers.
From Letters of the Right Honourable Lady M—y W—y M—e Written during Her Travels in Europe, Asia and Africa to Persons of Distinction, Men of Letters, &c. in Different Parts of Europe by Lady Mary Wortley Montagu
All the time that Mrs. Potten had been running through a list of the marriages, births, etc., of all her former servants, Lady Dashwood was contriving a telegram to Lady Belinda Scott.
From The New Warden by Mrs. David G. Ritchie
A fair answer to these pleas might be that Boz was not too scrupulous as to times or distances when he was contriving incidents or events; and numberless specimens could be given of his inaccuracies.
From Pickwickian Studies by Percy Hethrington Fitzgerald
For Mrs. Brady, in her quiet way, was contriving to let the boy understand that she thought exceedingly well of him.
From The Widow O'Callaghan's Boys by Gulielma Zollinger
This was the business that Seward was contriving, that Lincoln would not explain, on April first.
From Lincoln; An Account of his Personal Life, Especially of its Springs of Action as Revealed and Deepened by the Ordeal of War by Nathaniel W. (Nathaniel Wright) Stephenson
