How to Use contrived in a Sentence
contrived
adjective- The results of the test seemed somewhat contrived.
- The movie's contrived ending was a big disappointment.
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This may feel like the contrived start of a zany meet-the-parents mix-up.
— Ron Charles, Washington Post, 27 Oct. 2020 -
Yet a room too sparse or styled can seem cold or contrived.
— Lisa Marie Hart, USA TODAY, 25 Mar. 2018 -
The problem is more with a process that is at best contrived and at worst tortured.
— Harvey Araton, New York Times, 25 Dec. 2019 -
Plot-wise, the movie tends toward the contrived and cartoonish.
— Sheri Linden, The Hollywood Reporter, 5 Aug. 2020 -
An All-Stars 9 episode where the contrived drama of the ruby slippers built to a true moment of pathos?
— Jason P. Frank, Vulture, 7 June 2024 -
But somehow the show manages to feel too contrived and too thinly conceived at the same time.
— Jen Chaney, Vulture, 17 Aug. 2021 -
The storylines can seem to be a bit contrived but not completely out of place.
— Mary Cadden, USA TODAY, 14 May 2018 -
The filming style makes all acting look bad and all action look contrived.
— Kyle Smith, National Review, 8 Oct. 2019 -
Rather than anything too contrived, her cheeks always look fresh, flushed and healthy.
— Elle Turner, Glamour, 16 Apr. 2021 -
The pace picks up a bit as the book veers to a contrived ending that shifts the focus away from the lackluster portrayal of Chávez.
— Washington Post, 12 Aug. 2021 -
None of this made much sense, and the contrived modernization only served to distract from the singing and the glories of Mozart’s score.
— John Von Rhein, chicagotribune.com, 29 Aug. 2017 -
Patterson and Pressler are linchpins of the faith, the duo that—in 1967—first contrived to move Southern Baptists hard right.
— Virginia Heffernan, WIRED, 21 June 2018 -
But some of Herman’s repertoire, frankly, can seem a bit contrived and boorish.
— Dan Wolken, USA TODAY, 3 Sep. 2017 -
In the movie, a contrived narrative brings the men together.
— Washington Post, 27 Dec. 2019 -
The risk for all was that the line of attack would seem contrived; the reward, as Harris and the others found, was considerable.
— Liz Goodwin, BostonGlobe.com, 6 July 2019 -
If the premise initially seems a bit contrived, any awkwardness melts away as the walls between Luke and Aysha do.
— Angie Han, The Hollywood Reporter, 8 Sep. 2023 -
On its website their first bit of advice is for people to ride that stretch so they can get counted — does that sound a bit contrived?
— Reader Commentary, Baltimore Sun, 18 Mar. 2024 -
No, the comfortable would feel too obvious and the absurd would feel too contrived.
— Mary Sollosi, EW.com, 3 Feb. 2022 -
The feel is more quirky than hipster, the result of decades of organic growth rather than a contrived atmosphere.
— Larry Olmsted, USA TODAY, 7 Mar. 2018 -
At the same time, the evidence shows that the contrived transcript in the post does not accurately reflect much of what was said during the call.
— Ana Faguy, USA TODAY, 15 June 2022 -
But as a whole, recent Grammys fashion has been much more contrived, and less about disrupting the norm.
— Christian Allaire, Vogue, 1 Feb. 2024 -
Rather than force it and become contrived, Noisia will spend one final year touring the world in thankful farewell.
— Kat Bein, Billboard, 19 Sep. 2019 -
The story takes its most contrived turn when Robert lands a part-time job at a public defender’s office.
— Justin Chang, Los Angeles Times, 25 Aug. 2022 -
In practice, the play, and the relationship between its principals, feels too contrived to rise to the potential of the premise.
— The New Yorker, 31 Mar. 2017 -
The meet-cute seems a little contrived, but the dynamic between Hathaway and Galitzine clicks right away.
— Peter Debruge, Variety, 17 Mar. 2024 -
Just don’t scratch even the slightest bit beneath its glossy, super-contrived surface.
— Gary Goldstein, Los Angeles Times, 3 Feb. 2022 -
In the logic of contrived storytelling, Allysa (Jenny Slate) is, of course, related to Ryle.
— Lovia Gyarkye, The Hollywood Reporter, 7 Aug. 2024 -
The thing is, since o1 is only displaying a contrived chain-of-thought, this means that there is a chance now for AI hallucinations to appear in the visible chain-of-thought.
— Lance Eliot, Forbes, 23 Sep. 2024
Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'contrived.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
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