Nominal Forms
Infinitive: to contrive
Participle: contrived
Gerund: contriving
Cognates
-
Indicative
Present
| I | contrive |
| you | contrive |
| he;she;it | contrives |
| we | contrive |
| you | contrive |
| they | contrive |
Perfect
| I | have contrived |
| you | have contrived |
| he;she;it | has contrived |
| we | have contrived |
| you | have contrived |
| they | have contrived |
Past
| I | contrived |
| you | contrived |
| he;she;it | contrived |
| we | contrived |
| you | contrived |
| they | contrived |
Pluperfect
| I | had contrived |
| you | had contrived |
| he;she;it | had contrived |
| we | had contrived |
| you | had contrived |
| they | had contrived |
Future
| I | will contrive |
| you | will contrive |
| he;she;it | will contrive |
| we | will contrive |
| you | will contrive |
| they | will contrive |
Future Perfect
| I | will have contrived |
| you | will have contrived |
| he;she;it | will have contrived |
| we | will have contrived |
| you | will have contrived |
| they | will have contrived |
Subjunctive
Present
| I | contrive |
| you | contrive |
| he;she;it | contrive |
| we | contrive |
| you | contrive |
| they | contrive |
Perfect
| I | have contrived |
| you | have contrived |
| he;she;it | have contrived |
| we | have contrived |
| you | have contrived |
| they | have contrived |
Imperfect
| I | contrived |
| you | contrived |
| he;she;it | contrived |
| we | contrived |
| you | contrived |
| they | contrived |
Pluperfect
| I | had contrived |
| you | had contrived |
| he;she;it | had contrived |
| we | had contrived |
| you | had contrived |
| they | had contrived |
Conditional
Present
| I | would contrive |
| you | would contrive |
| he;she;it | would contrive |
| we | would contrive |
| you | would contrive |
| they | would contrive |
Perfect
| I | would have contrived |
| you | would have contrived |
| he;she;it | would have contrived |
| we | would have contrived |
| you | would have contrived |
| they | would have contrived |
Imperative
| you | contrive |
| we | Let's contrive |
| you | contrive |
Verbs conjugated like 'contrive'
abacinate,
abalienate,
abase,
abate,
abbreviate,
abdicate,
abduce,
aberrate,
aberuncate,
abirritate,
abjudge,
abjudicate,
abjugate,
abjure,
ablactate,
ablaqueate,
able,
ablegate,
abligate,
abnegate, etc. (List truncated at 20 verbs)
Verbs similar to 'contrive'
contrite,
conceive,
connive,
contrist,
convive,
outrive,
cantile,
captive,
coitize,
colorize,
Synonyms & Antonyms
Synonyms
- devise
- concoct, design, formulate, invent, prepare, hatch, procure
- arrange
- manage, engineer, negotiate, afford, maneuver, manipulate, scheme
Antonyms
- devise
- disorder, mismanage, muddle, fumble
- arrange
- disarrange, disorder, derange, jumble
Additional Information
Phrasal Verbs
Etymology
1. c.1325, from O.Fr.
controver "to find out, contrive, imagine," from V.L.
contropare "to compare" (via a figure of speech), from L.
com- "with" +
tropus "song, musical mode," from Gk.
tropos "figure of speech" (see trope). Sense evolution (in Fr.) was from "invent with ingenuity" to "invent falsely."
2. From Middle English contreve (“to invent”), from Old French controver (Modern French controuver), from trover (“to find”) (French trouver). See: French '
controuver'.
Verbs referencing "contrive"
French
controuver.
Sample Sentences
-
‘Some of the analogical signs which (guided by his faculty of imitation ) he had contrived, were comprehensible; such as the waving motion of his hand for the motion of a boat, the circular one for a wheel, &c.
(American Notes for General Circulation)
-
[...] with my own, made the letters key. He felt my hands eagerly with both of his, and on my repeating the process, he evidently tried to imitate the motions of my fingers. In a few minutes he contrived to feel the motions of my fingers with one hand, and holding out the other he tried to imitate them, laughing most heartily when he succeeded. Laura was by, interested even to agitation; and the [...]
(American Notes for General Circulation)
-
[...] generally that Missis would not be particularly disobliged by delay; and it was wonderful what a number of counter accidents occurred constantly, to retard the course of things. One luckless wight contrived to upset the gravy; and then gravy had to be got up _de novo_, with due care and formality, Aunt Chloe watching and stirring with dogged precision, answering shortly, to all suggestions of haste, [...]
(Uncle Tom’s Cabin)
-
[...] too, at first, to say the least, to see so many honourable members with swelled faces; and it is scarcely less remarkable to discover that this appearance is caused by the quantity of tobacco they contrive to stow within the hollow of the cheek. It is strange enough too, to see an honourable gentleman leaning back in his tilted chair with his legs on the desk before him, shaping a convenient ‘plug ’ [...]
(American Notes for General Circulation)
-
[...] rows of shining tin, suggestive of unmentionable good things to the appetite; glossy green wood chairs, old and firm; a small flag-bottomed rocking-chair, with a patch-work cushion in it, neatly contrived out of small pieces of different colored woollen goods, and a larger sized one, motherly and old, whose wide arms breathed hospitable invitation, seconded by the solicitation of its feather [...]
(Uncle Tom’s Cabin)
-
[...] a large, low, ghostly room; with a quantity of withered branches on the hearth, and two doors without any fastening, opposite to each other, both opening on the black night and wild country, and so contrived, that one of them always blew the other open: a novelty in domestic architecture, which I do not remember to have seen before, and which I was somewhat disconcerted to have forced on my attention [...]
(American Notes for General Circulation)
-
[...] ma’am, ” said Topsy, as before; — but we will add, what Miss Ophelia did not see, that, during the time when the good lady's back was turned in the zeal of her manipulations, the young disciple had contrived to snatch a pair of gloves and a ribbon, which she had adroitly slipped into her sleeves, and stood with her hands dutifully folded, as before.
(Uncle Tom’s Cabin)