contrived

Thân thiện

Her apology felt contrived and insincere.

Definition

Adjective: 1. Artificially formal or unnatural: Created or arranged in a way that seems forced, deliberate, or lacking in spontaneity, often to achieve a specific effect. 2. Showing effects of planning or manipulation: Deliberately created rather than arising naturally, often resulting in something that feels artificial or unconvincing.

Examples of Usage

• The dialogue in the play felt contrived and unrealistic, making it hard for the audience to connect with the characters.
• Her apology seemed contrived, as if she had practiced it but didn't truly mean it.
• The movie's happy ending was so contrived that it undermined the serious themes of the story.
• He hated her contrived humility, which was clearly an act for their guests.

Advanced Usage

• "a contrived plot device": A narrative element in a story that feels obviously invented by the author to move the plot forward, rather than emerging organically from the characters or situation.
  • The sudden appearance of a long-lost twin to solve the mystery was seen as a contrived plot device.
• "contrived to [verb]": (Less common, formal) Deliberately arranged or schemed to make something happen.
  • He contrived to meet her accidentally at the café.

Variants and Related Words

• Contrive (verb): To create or bring about (something) by deliberate use of skill or artifice; to manage to do something foolish or risky.
  • The prisoners contrived a plan to escape.
• Contrivance (noun): 1. The use of skill to create or plan something, often something complex. 2. A device or machine, especially one that appears strange or unnecessarily complicated. 3. Something that is overly artificial or planned.
  • The plot relies too heavily on coincidence and contrivance.

Synonyms

• Artificial: Made or produced to imitate something natural; not arising from genuine feeling.
• Forced: Done or produced with effort; strained.
• Stilted: (Of speech or writing) stiff and artificially formal.
• Labored: Done with great effort and difficulty; not fluent or natural.
• Unnatural: Contrary to the ordinary course of nature; affected.

Antonyms

• Natural: Existing in or derived from nature; not artificial.
• Spontaneous: Performed or occurring as a result of a sudden impulse; natural and unconstrained.
• Genuine: Truly what something is said to be; sincere.
• Artless: Without guile or deception; natural and simple.

Học thuật

Adjective

1. artificially formal
   • that artificial humility that her husband hated
   • contrived coyness
   • a stilted letter of acknowledgment
   • when people try to correct their speech they develop a stilted pronunciation
2. showing effects of planning or manipulation
   • a novel with a contrived ending

Từ đồng nghĩa

• artificial
• hokey
• stilted