The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Contrive \Con*trive"\ (k[o^]n*tr[imac]v"), v. t. [imp. & p. p.
   Contrived; p. pr. & vb. n. Contriving.] [OE. contriven,
   contreven, controven, to invent, OF. controver, contruver;
   con- + trouver to find. See Troubadour, trover.]
   To form by an exercise of ingenuity; to devise; to invent; to
   design; to plan.
   [1913 Webster]

         What more likely to contrive this admirable frame of
         the universe than infinite wisdom.       --Tillotson.
   [1913 Webster]

         neither do thou imagine that I shall contrive aught
         against his life.                        --Hawthorne.

   Syn: To invent; discover; plan; design; project; plot;
        concert; hatch.
        [1913 Webster]

The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Contrive \Con*trive"\, v. i.
   To make devices; to form designs; to plan; to scheme; to
   plot.
   [1913 Webster]

         The Fates with traitors do contrive.     --Shak.
   [1913 Webster]

         Thou hast contrived against th very life
         Of the defendant.                        --Shak.
   [1913 Webster]

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):

contrive
    v 1: make or work out a plan for; devise; "They contrived to
         murder their boss"; "design a new sales strategy"; "plan an
         attack" [syn: plan, project, contrive, design]
    2: come up with (an idea, plan, explanation, theory, or
       principle) after a mental effort; "excogitate a way to
       measure the speed of light" [syn: invent, contrive,
       devise, excogitate, formulate, forge]
    3: put or send forth; "She threw the flashlight beam into the
       corner"; "The setting sun threw long shadows"; "cast a
       spell"; "cast a warm light" [syn: project, cast,
       contrive, throw]

Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:

138 Moby Thesaurus words for "contrive":
   angle, arrange, be so, be such, beget, breed, bring, bring forth,
   bring into being, bring on, calculate, call forth, call into being,
   cast, clear, clear the hurdle, cogitate, coin, collogue, collude,
   come along, come on, come out, come through, conceive, concert,
   concoct, connive, conspire, cook up, cut out, cut the mustard,
   design, develop, devise, discover, draw down, draw on, dream up,
   effect, elaborate, elicit, engender, engineer, evoke, evolve,
   fabricate, fare, fashion, figure, finagle, forecast, formulate,
   frame, generate, gerrymander, get, get along, get by, get on,
   give being to, give rise to, go along, go on, hack it, handle,
   hatch, hatch up, improvise, induce, inspire, instigate, intend,
   intrigue, invent, jockey, lay plans, lead, machinate, make,
   make a projection, make arrangements, make do with, make it,
   make out, make the grade, make up, manage, manage somehow,
   maneuver, manipulate, manufacture, mature, methodize, mint,
   motivate, move, muddle through, negotiate, obtain, organize,
   originate, play games, plot, prearrange, procreate, procure,
   program, project, provoke, pull strings, put over, put through,
   rationalize, rig, schedule, schematize, scheme, scrape along,
   set up, shape, shape up, spawn, stack up, strike out, succeed in,
   superinduce, swing, swing the deal, systematize, think out,
   think up, turn out, vamp up, wangle, work out, work up,
   worry along