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Contriver

   Also found in: Encyclopedia, Wikipedia 0.03 sec.
con·trive  (kn-trv)
v. con·trived, con·triv·ing, con·trives
v.tr.
1. To plan with cleverness or ingenuity; devise: contrive ways to amuse the children.
2. To invent or fabricate, especially by improvisation: contrived a swing from hanging vines.
3. To plan with evil intent; scheme: contrived a plot to seize power.
4. To bring about, as by scheming; manage: somehow contrived to get past the guards unnoticed.
v.intr.
To form plans or schemes.

[Middle English contreven, from Old French controver, contreuv-, from Medieval Latin contropre, to compare : Latin com-, com- + Latin tropus, turn, manner, style (from Greek tropos; see trep- in Indo-European roots).]

con·triver n.
ThesaurusLegend:  Synonyms Related Words Antonyms
Noun1.Contrivercontriver - a person who makes plans            
individual, mortal, person, somebody, someone, soul - a human being; "there was too much for one person to do"
intriguer, designer - a person who devises plots or intrigues; "he is believed to be the principal designer of the terrorist bombing attack"
maneuverer, manoeuvrer - a person skilled in maneuvering
plotter, schemer - a planner who draws up a personal scheme of action
strategian, strategist - an expert in strategy (especially in warfare)
tactician - a person who is skilled at planning tactics


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? Mentioned in ? References in classic literature
 
"He was amazed, how so impotent and grovelling an insect as I" (these were his expressions) "could entertain such inhuman ideas, and in so familiar a manner, as to appear wholly unmoved at all the scenes of blood and desolation which I had painted as the common effects of those destructive machines; whereof," he said, "some evil genius, enemy to mankind, must have been the first contriver.
Can you, with honour, be the knowing, the wilful occasion, nay, the artful contriver of the ruin of a human being?
She prided herself also upon being an excellent contriver in housekeeping; though I could never find that we grew richer with her contrivances.
 
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