- contrive
- early 14c., from O.Fr. controver "to find out, contrive, imagine," from V.L. contropare "to compare" (via a figure of speech), from L. com- "with" + tropus "song, musical mode," from Gk. tropos "figure of speech" (see trope). Sense evolution (in French) was from "invent with ingenuity" to "invent falsely." Related: Contrived (c.1400); contriving (early 14c.); contrivance (1620s).