Adjacent Words

contraption definitions

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WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: a device or control that is very useful for a particular job [syn: appliance, contraption, contrivance, convenience, gadget, gizmo, gismo, widget]

Merriam Webster's

noun Etymology: perhaps blend of contrivance, trap, and invention Date: circa 1825 device, gadget

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. often derog. or joc. a machine or device, esp. a strange or cumbersome one. Etymology: 19th c.: perh. f. CONTRIVE, INVENTION: assoc. with TRAP(1)

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Contraption Con*trap"tion, n. A contrivance; a new-fangled device; -- used scornfully. [Colloq. or Dial.] -- Con*trap"tious, a. We all remember some of the extraordinary contraptions which have been thus evolved and put upon the market. --F. M. Ware.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(contraptions) You can refer to a device or machine as a contraption, especially when it looks strange or you do not know what it is used for. ...a strange contraption called the General Gordon Gas Bath. = gadget N-COUNT

Moby Thesaurus

apparatus, contrivance, device, gadget, gimcrack, gimmick, gizmo, hand tool, implement, instrument, means, mechanical device, mechanism, power tool, precision tool, speed tool, thingumabob, thingumajig, thingummy, tool, utensil, widget