contrivance definition

1. the faculty of contriving; inventive skill
• examples: his skillful contrivance of answers to every problem
2. an elaborate or deceitful scheme contrived to deceive or evade
• examples: his testimony was just a contrivance to throw us off the track
3. an artificial or unnatural or obviously contrived arrangement of details or parts etc.
• examples: the plot contained too many improbable contrivances to be believable