Devise Meaning
/dɪˈvaɪz/Definition, CEFR level B2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
verbTo use one’s intellect to plan or design (something).
verbTo leave (property) in a will.
Sentence Examples
We must devise some means of escape.
He tried to devise a plan for getting rid of termites.
CEFR Practice Quiz
Engineers must ____ a reliable system to filter contaminated drinking water.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
We must ____ some means of escape.
Word Origin & History
PIE word *dwóh₁ From Middle English devisen, devysen, from Old French deviser, from Vulgar Latin devisō, from Latin dīvisō, frequentative of dīvidō.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"Therefore to make complaynt
Of such mysadvysed
Parsons and dysgysed,
Thys boke we have devysed, […]"
— c. 1503–1512, John Skelton, Ware the Hauke; republished in John Scattergood, editor, John Skelton: The Complete English Poems, 1983, →OCLC, page 62, lines 20–23:
"His fiery eies are fixt vpon the earth.
As if he now deuiſ’d some Stratageme:
Or meant to pierce Auernus darkſome vauts.
To pull the triple headed dog from hell."
— c. 1587–1588 (date written), [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire; London: Scolar Press, 1973, →ISBN, Act I, scene ii:
"devising schemes to realize his ambitious views"
— 1834–1874, George Bancroft, History of the United States, from the Discovery of the American Continent, volume (please specify |volume=I to X), Boston, Mass.: Little, Brown and Company [et al.], →OCLC:
"Thus, the task of the linguist devising a grammar which models the linguistic competence of the fluent native speaker is to devise a finite set of rules which are capable of specifying how to form, interpret, and pronounce an infinite set of well-formed sentences."
— 1988, Andrew Radford, Transformational Grammar, Cambridge: University Press, →ISBN, page 23:
"Thailand goes to the polls on Sunday under a new system that critics say the military government has devised to prevent the most popular political party, which has won every election since 2001, from returning to power."
— 2019 March 21, Setboonsarg, Chayut; Johnson, Kay, “Numbers game: How Thailand's election system favors pro-army parties”, in Robert Birsel, editor, Reuters, Reuters, retrieved 23 Mar 2019:
Explore More B2 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
Engineers must ____ a reliable system to filter contaminated drinking water.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
We must ____ some means of escape.