contrive

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

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 6, 2025

Of course, if the show becomes a fantabulous success, the Netflix engineers may contrive a way to make it live again; it’s happened before.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 17, 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

“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

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

And while the Survivor season contrives to have its David come out ahead, White’s fictionalized version offers no such assurances about the triumph of the underdog.

From Slate ● Aug. 19, 2021

Stephenson contrives a captivating voice for his hero.

From Washington Post ● Sep. 1, 2020

Technical proofs are the arguments that the orator contrives.

From "Words Like Loaded Pistols" by Sam Leith

Most infamously, Cronje contrived to lose a rain-affected Test against England in 2000.

From BBC ● Oct. 1, 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

An independent disciplinary commission ruled at the time that the espionage was authorised by Eckert and was a "contrived and determined plan from the top down".

From BBC ● Jul. 22, 2026

His naiveté begins to feel contrived, a way to preserve a hazy aura of romance and menace.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 11, 2026

It had been contrived as a way of letting Winston know O’Brien’s address.

From "1984" by George Orwell

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

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

We worked by contriving intricate and open-ended emotional conspiracies.

From "Native Speaker" by Chang-rae Lee