contrive

Others applauded that decision, content not to trot out their work-party ensemble and contrive the holiday cheer.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 17, 2025

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

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

"From that day on he would contrive situations to get me alone," he said.

From BBC ● Jan. 8, 2023

“In short,” Leonardo concludes modestly, “I can contrive an infinite variety of machines for attack or defense.”

From "The Mona Lisa Vanishes" by Nicholas Day

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

The travel industry contrives all manner of ways to objectify the locals for the benefit of tourists on a quest for the extraordinary or the “authentic.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 12, 2022

But for all its empathetic detail, “You Resemble Me” contrives a rather simplistic cause-and-effect tale, grasping too desperately at elusive answers.

From New York Times ● Nov. 3, 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

This sounds unwieldy and somewhat contrived, but Ms. Ní Ghríofa’s insistent, confiding style is captivating and her eccentric exploration has the urgency of a psychological thriller.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 30, 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

The prosecutor said evidence from the boy - now in his 20s - was also "straightforward and not contrived".

From BBC ● Aug. 21, 2026

They sent the cunning Hermes to his assistance, who contrived stealthily by night to get him out of his prison.

From "Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes" by Edith Hamilton

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

Warren Zaire-Emery was punished for contriving to strike the post with the goal gaping as Mats Hummels arrowed in a towering header to score for Dortmund shortly after.

From BBC ● May 7, 2024

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

From Washington Post ● Mar. 25, 2023

Soon, she’s contriving all sorts of convoluted plans to entice the animal out of the forest and entrap it — and when she succeeds, “Wild” takes a strange, feral turn.

From New York Times ● Sep. 23, 2022

For not in doing or contriving, nor in choosing between this course and another, can I avail; but only in knowing what was and is, and in part also what shall be.

From "The Fellowship of the Ring" by J.R.R. Tolkien