contrive

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.

They can dominate chunks of a game with their excellence and then contrive to lose that same game with their mental wobbles.

From BBC • Feb. 6, 2026

The author’s few attempts at regret or self-reflection don’t land, nor do her efforts to contrive a kind of contemporary, Didion-inspired journalistic style that mixes meticulous observation with first-person intimacy.

From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 3, 2025

The members must contrive to pay the new guy off, which means redeeming the deadbeat’s paper.

From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 6, 2025

One of the first things McCartney did when he took over the Buffs in 1982 was contrive a rivalry with Nebraska and ban red in the football building.

From Seattle Times • Sep. 6, 2023

If discovered here in the morning, I could contrive some explanation of how I came to be shut up in the property room.

From "The Shakespeare Stealer" by Gary L. Blackwood