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# contrived

«contrived» in Mova's school dictionary: **Seeming false and planned, not natural or believable:…** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples.

### part of speech

adjective (contrived; more contrived); verb form (past of contrive: contrived)

### meaning for a pupil

1) (adjective) Seeming false and planned, not natural or believable: «The ending of the film felt contrived». [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/contrived/#m1)

2) (verb, past of contrive) Managed to do something by being clever or tricky: «She contrived to escape». [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/contrived/#m2)

3) (verb, past of contrive) Made or invented something cleverly: «They contrived a raft from old barrels». [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/contrived/#m3)

### sense in the lessons

In English lessons and book reviews, «contrived» is a criticism of a plot that relies on unlikely coincidences, or of dialogue that sounds forced. In stories, a clever character «contrives» a plan or a way out. Phrases: «a contrived plot», «a contrived smile», «contrived to», «feel contrived».

### examples

- The story's happy ending felt contrived. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/contrived/#x1)
- His contrived smile showed he was not really pleased. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/contrived/#x2)
- The prisoners contrived a rope from their bedsheets. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/contrived/#x3)
- She somehow contrived to finish her homework during breakfast. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/contrived/#x4)
- The film's coincidences were so contrived that we laughed. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/contrived/#x5)
- Write dialogue that sounds natural, not contrived. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/contrived/#x6)
- How they contrived to keep themselves alive is more than I can imagine. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/contrived/#x7)

### note

As an adjective it is negative: «contrived» = forced, too obviously planned. The verb «contrive» is formal. The noun «contrivance» means a clever device or a trick. Opposite of the adjective: natural, believable, genuine.

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «contrived» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/contrived/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.