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

Two years later, and after missing out on Qatar 2022 there are fears that Italy will somehow contrive to once again be absent from a major tournament.

From BBC ● Oct. 17, 2023

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

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

He contrives a blowout weekend for him and his boy: a trip to Milwaukee and a major-league baseball game.

From New York Times ● Jun. 9, 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

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 could be contrived and improbable and old-fashioned in its triumphs snatched from the jaws of defeat, and I completely loved it.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 29, 2026

Southampton's spying on rival clubs was authorised by head coach Tonda Eckert and was a "contrived and determined plan from the top down to gain a competitive advantage", an independent disciplinary panel says.

From BBC ● May 21, 2026

He Gets Us has been running these strange, Jesus-themed commercials for multiple Super Bowls in a row now, and they’re only getting more contrived.

From Slate ● Feb. 8, 2026

She was dressed as though she were going on safari, and contrived to be glamorous about it, too.

From "Code Name Verity" by Elizabeth Wein

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

But I wonder if such a connection can even be made between then and our friendship now, or if I’m contriving it to appease in me some compulsion for closure.

From New York Times ● Apr. 12, 2021

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

From "Native Speaker" by Chang-rae Lee