different between contrive vs construct

English

Etymology

From Middle English contreve (“to invent”), from Old French controver (Modern French controuver), from trover (“to find”) (French trouver).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /k?n?t?a?v/
• Rhymes: -a?v

Verb

contrive (third-person singular simple present contrives, present participle contriving, simple past and past participle contrived)

1. To invent by an exercise of ingenuity; to devise

   Synonyms: plan, scheme, plot, hatch

   • 1813, Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice, Modern Library Edition (1995), page 154

     […] I cannot bear the idea of two young women traveling post by themselves. It is highly improper. You must contrive to send somebody.

2. To invent, to make devices; to form designs especially by improvisation.
3. To project, cast, or set forth, as in a projection of light.
4. (obsolete, transitive) To spend (time, or a period).

Synonyms

• becast
• cast about

Derived terms

• contrived
• contriver
• contrivance

Translations

Anagrams

• renovict

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin constructus, from construo (“I heap together, build, make, construct, connect grammatically”), from com- (“together”) + struo (“I heap up, pile”). Doublet of construe.

Pronunciation

Noun

• (UK) enPR: k?n'str?kt, IPA^(key): /?k?n.st??kt/
• (US) enPR: kän'str?kt, IPA^(key): /?k?n.st??kt/

Verb

• (UK, US) enPR: k?n-str?kt', IPA^(key): /k?n?st??kt/
• Rhymes: -?kt

Noun

construct (plural constructs)

1. Something constructed from parts.

2. A concept or model.

3. (genetics) A segment of nucleic acid, created artificially, for transplantation into a target cell or tissue.

Synonyms

• (something constructed from parts): construction
• (concept, model): concept, idea, model, notion, representation

Related terms

Translations

Verb

construct (third-person singular simple present constructs, present participle constructing, simple past and past participle constructed)

1. (transitive) To build or form (something) by assembling parts.

2. (transitive) To build (a sentence, an argument, etc.) by arranging words or ideas.
   • 1997, Marita Sturken, Tangled Memories

     The Vietnam War films are forms of memory that function to provide collective rememberings, to construct history, and to subsume within them the experience of the veterans.

3. (transitive, geometry) To draw (a geometric figure) by following precise specifications and using geometric tools and techniques.

Synonyms

• (build or form by assembling parts'): assemble, build, form, make, produce, put together
• (build (a sentence or argument)): form
• (draw (a geometric figure)):

Antonyms

• (build or form by assembling parts): destroy, disassemble, dismantle, ruin, wreck, take apart

Derived terms

• deconstruct
• overconstruct
• reconstruct
• unconstruct

Related terms

Translations

Further reading

• construct in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• construct in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• construct at OneLook Dictionary Search