contrive

When a lady’s maid and a houseguest’s valet fall in love, they contrive to unite their incompatible employers.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 26, 2026

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

He is sometimes inspired to make a poor choice, but, as with the silent comedians of old, the universe will contrive to save him.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 7, 2024

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

“How can you contrive to write so even?”

From "Pride and Prejudice" by Jane Austen

So even if the U.S. somehow contrives to lose to Paraguay, draw with Australia, and lose to Turkey, for example, it’s highly likely they’ll get into the Round of 16.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 12, 2026

By telling the story through a fictionalized filial relationship, and locating the initial part of the movie in Senegal, Vadepied, the director, contrives to personalize the war’s horror for the African conscripts.

From New York Times ● Feb. 22, 2023

With the younger son taking over as jailer, this goes on for a century, until Dream contrives to escape.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 5, 2022

Lethem’s plot contrives for have Journeyman ride out the end of the world in a Maine idyll where people are both well-off and self-sufficient—a rarity in modern life.

From Slate ● Mar. 18, 2021

Technical proofs are the arguments that the orator contrives.

From "Words Like Loaded Pistols" by Sam Leith

Chief among them is the tension between Ferrari drivers Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc after they contrived to throw away a potential one-two finish in Mexico last Sunday by tangling on the first lap.

From BBC ● Nov. 6, 2026

In a film full of contrived indignities, this is the most maddening, suggesting that anyone watching the film is no more clever than the “Fossil Fools” audience members.

From Salon ● Oct. 5, 2026

Scenes designed to advance the plot feel more contrived than ones in which characters just share thoughts and feelings, but there are plenty of those.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 10, 2026

I’m wondering if the justices are themselves creating these absurd notions or if appellate advocates are suggesting and steering the justices toward these contrived ways of thinking.

From Slate ● Aug. 16, 2026

When it was finished they went within and with one mat she had contrived not to use they made a floor and sat down and were sheltered.

From "The Good Earth" by Pearl S. Buck

The FDA implicitly concedes that the RP1 results are impressive by contriving ridiculous reasons to argue they could be exaggerated.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 14, 2026

Redondo hit the post twice in a matter of seconds - first seeing her header brilliantly tipped on to the woodwork by Daphne van Domselaar, before contriving to turn the rebound off the same upright.

From BBC ● Aug. 10, 2023

Perhaps his primary knack was for contriving a tension between immaculate optics and human entropy.

From Washington Post ● Mar. 25, 2023

A Hong apartment almost invariably belongs to a guy whose romantic woes are of his own contriving, or fumbling.

From New York Times ● Jun. 4, 2020

I counted to one hundred as I rocked, contriving the patience to get one down in order to take up another.

From "The Poisonwood Bible" by Barbara Kingsolver