What's the difference between concoct and contrive?

Concoct


Definition:

  • (v. t.) To digest; to convert into nourishment by the organs of nutrition.
  • (v. t.) To purify or refine chemically.
  • (v. t.) To prepare from crude materials, as food; to invent or prepare by combining different ingredients; as, to concoct a new dish or beverage.
  • (v. t.) To digest in the mind; to devise; to make up; to contrive; to plan; to plot.
  • (v. t.) To mature or perfect; to ripen.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) Throughout the 1960s and later, various misbegotten plans for massive hotels and corniche roads were concocted by outsiders, keen to exploit the spectacular beaches.
  • (2) South China Sea atom In a 13,900-word white paper, Beijing claimed the Philippines , which brought the case, had “distorted facts, misinterpreted laws and concocted a pack of lies” in order to undermine Chinese interests.
  • (3) These colonials brought their concoctions back to the UK and popularised them.
  • (4) Prenatal care consisted of consultation with a prophet, wearing amulets, using herbal concoctions for bathing and drinking, and injections of herbal power to keep evil spirits away and guarantee safe delivery.
  • (5) In an affidavit , Dr Larry Sasich told the court that Georgia's likely use of a compounding pharmacist to concoct pentobarbital for the Hill execution presented the prisoner with substantial risk that the drugs would not work effectively.
  • (6) A man convicted in 2006 of attempting to bomb the Herald Square subway station in Manhattan told an informant who concocted the plot he would have to check with his mother and was uncomfortable planting the bombs himself.
  • (7) That was the week when the Bake Off contestants were called on to make dainty biscuits and elaborate gingerbread concoctions, following previous showdowns over who could make the fluffiest muffins and the creamiest custard tarts.
  • (8) In a desperate attempt to plea-bargain his way out of prison, he concocted an elaborate plot to pin the murder on an associate who he believed had died.
  • (9) Four times a day, at fixed times, they get fed panda cake, a specially made concoction of boiled rice, corn, soya and oils.
  • (10) The one that he concocted for this particular problem goes as follows: "It is true that our health depends, On our congressional friends, To grant this convention, this brief intervention, Remember Jesus saves and Congress spends."
  • (11) Logical, yes, but politically it's a no-brainer: why risk the wrath of the Daily Mail for being soft on drugs, even if it does mean passing up the chance to ensure these concoctions – produced and marketed by manufacturers who work one step ahead of the law – are better controlled, dosed and labelled, and therefore less likely to maim or kill.
  • (12) Spurs still had 17 minutes of normal time, and another five of stoppages, to concoct a winner but their cohesion had gone.
  • (13) Beyoncé: Crazy in Love An impossibly thrilling concoction of tumbling drums, soul horns (borrowed from the Chi-Lites) and a perfect chorus.
  • (14) Everything humanity concocts comes with some cost attached.
  • (15) Concluding that only Piz could have concocted such a vile prank, Logan laid down the law, sentencing Veronica’s boyfriend to major beatdown.
  • (16) And it would be nothing short of condescending for screenwriter Aaron Sorkin and director David Fincher to have concocted some fictional spunky-girl nerd character or a wise female comp sci professor in an attempt to make their film more female-friendly.
  • (17) I'm keen to see what "evidence" the investigators have concocted to prove the allegations.
  • (18) A few days fermenting in a glass jar does the trick – it is ready when the concoction starts bubbling.
  • (19) Iceland would describe themselves as overachievers rather than underdogs, though, and there is a genuine belief that the plan being concocted 20 miles from the Swiss border will be enough to bring the most famous of their rhino killings yet.
  • (20) What goes missing when brands cross the border, she believes, is their Italianità – that concoction of flair and unpredictability that has proved her own key to success.

Contrive


Definition:

  • (v. t.) To form by an exercise of ingenuity; to devise; to invent; to design; to plan.
  • (v. i.) To make devices; to form designs; to plan; to scheme; to plot.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) "If there is some kind of contrived scheme or vehicle, ie it's obvious that the purpose of the scheme is to avoid paying VAT and it's taking advantage of a loophole and we consider that tax is actually owed on the scheme, rather than just being a case of sensible tax planning … we can make the judgment that this is not legitimate tax planning.
  • (2) Here they led within 90 seconds against a team whose fragility has been all too clear this term, and still contrived to wilt almost apologetically.
  • (3) And I'll be catching several buzzy acts who I contrived to miss last year – Ivo Graham, Ursula Burns, Trygve (Squidboy) Wakenshaw, Phil Wang, Paul Currie.
  • (4) Rafael Benítez must contrive a way of picking this team up, as well as a starting lineup who are relatively fresh for Elland Road and a cup tie that once would have stirred the senses.
  • (5) When Grayson remarks to the men he meets that his transvestism allows him enough distance from maleness to view it as an observer, rather than bristle they nod, quietly ponder for a moment and then step back themselves, apparently accepting that maleness is such a weird contrivance that to look at it with critical eyes is Not Even A Thing.
  • (6) Capello's men have contrived to fail more severely than the line‑up beaten 4-2 by Uruguay in 1954.
  • (7) Support is provided by intercostal angiography, and by observations upon normal anatomy, the pathological anatomy of mature scoliotic spines and the anatomy of contrived scoliosis in normal spines.
  • (8) The natural and the contrived social experiments are reviewed as well as the issue of needed research on the effects of regulation on science and on the protection of privacy.
  • (9) Even after the Daily Mail's Jack Tinker (obituary, October 29 1996) contrived for Shulman's career as a theatre critic to be brought to an end in 1991, he continued to write a column for the Evening Standard on art affairs - until he was 83.
  • (10) Some patients find that the risk of a spontaneous attack is lessened following a self-induced seizure and can therefore contrive their fits to occur only in situations which are safe and convenient.
  • (11) Some contrivances in anastomosing a conduit were also proposed to achieve an excellent result.
  • (12) "It's more contrived in terms of 'good girl gone bad' or 'I'm so edgy – I'm twerking in this context.'
  • (13) Always a contrived fiction, this sequence juxtaposes a poignant fantasy of a fully fit presenter with the merciless world of hard news.
  • (14) A coded panel of 100 contrived dried blood spots prepared form well characterised anti-HIV-1 and anti-HIV-2 positive sera and an anti-HIV negative serum was distributed to eight testing centres.
  • (15) Despite papal fiction being such a crowded church, Harris, in Conclave , contrives a twist involving the number of cardinal-electors that seems to me completely new, showing that the genre still has possibilities.
  • (16) Although oral administration volume is limited in small animal model, enhancing its antitumor effect may be possible in clinical application by contriving the method of administration.
  • (17) Events went from bad to ridiculous for the Redbirds in the second inning, when Stephen Drew popped the ball up into the infield and catcher Yadier Molina and pitcher Adam Wainwright both moved towards the ball and then contrived to call each other off and watched the ball drop harmlessly between them.
  • (18) "We will dedicate our seventh goal to our wives, and the eighth to our dogs," quipped one player, while the manager, Jupp Derwall, promised that if his team contrived to lose he would "jump on the first train back to Munich".
  • (19) The tasks were presented in various ways: by means of a table-top simulation on which traffic scenarios had been contrived; by means of photographs of road situations; and by taking the children to real-world sites in the streets near their schools.
  • (20) The amendment left the government facing the prospect of scuttling its own legislation to give the tax office greater powers to stop global companies using “artificial or contrived arrangements” to avoid tax obligations.