contrive
Cook something up
Contrive means to devise or bring about through skill or ingenuity, often with a sense of scheming or artifice: She contrived a way to meet him alone.
The word suggests effort and planning, sometimes with negative overtones of manipulation or forced cleverness.
A contrived plot feels artificial; a contrived excuse sounds fabricated.
He contrived to be seated next to her at dinner.
Invent or manufacture
- concoctInvent or devise
- deviseCreate through ingenuity
- createCause to exist
- constructBuild systematically
fashion · forge · formulate · produce · generate · conceive · originate · compose
Create through ingenuity
- plotStoryline or land parcel
- engineerTechnical design professional
- orchestrateArrange complex undertakings
- machinatePlot craftily, secretly
maneuver · conspire · collude · finagle · wrangle · manipulate · connive · intrigue
Place methodically
- engineerTechnical design professional
- succeedAchieve a desired aim
- accomplishComplete successfully
- achieveSucceed through effort
effect · bring about · pull off · swing · finagle · wrangle · work out · manage
Made to occur unwillingly
- strainedUnder uncomfortable tension
- artificialMade, not natural
- laboredRequiring great exertion
- stiltedUnnaturally formal in expression
unnatural · affected · studied · calculated · manufactured · staged · fake · false
fabricate
Invent or manufacture
construct · fashion · forge · formulate · produce · generate · conceive · originate · compose · craft
devise
Create through ingenuity
- plotStoryline or land parcel
- engineerTechnical design professional
- orchestrateArrange complex undertakings
machinate · maneuver · conspire · collude · finagle · wrangle · manipulate · connive · intrigue · calculate
arrange
Place methodically
- engineerTechnical design professional
- succeedAchieve a desired aim
- accomplishComplete successfully
achieve · effect · bring about · pull off · swing · finagle · wrangle · work out · manage · negotiate
forced
Made to occur unwillingly
- strainedUnder uncomfortable tension
- artificialMade, not natural
- laboredRequiring great exertion
stilted · unnatural · affected · studied · calculated · manufactured · staged · fake · false · feigned
contrivestumble upon
Find unexpectedly
happen upon · chance upon · luck into · chance · fall into
contrived, contrivance, contriving, uncontrived, contrives, contrivances, contriver, contrivers