contrivance

  1. Noun.  a (mechanical) device to perform a certain task.
  2. Noun.  a means, such as an elaborate plan or strategy, to accomplish a certain objective.
  3. Noun.  something overly artful or artificial.

This is an unmodified, but possibly outdated, definition from Wiktionary and used here under the Creative Commons license. Wiktionary is a great resource. If you like it too, please donate to Wikimedia.

This entry was last updated on RefTopia from its source on 3/20/2012.