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.
• 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
• Investigators believe their disappearance and death were part of a contrived plan between five people, including Tifany Adams, 54, the kids' grandmother who Butler was in a bitter custody battle with.
  — Kinsey Crowley, USA TODAY, 22 May 2024

Last Updated: 3 Nov 2024