Collins COBUILD Advanced Learner's English Dictionary - contrived

1. If you say that something someone says or does is contrived, you think it is false and deliberate, rather than natural and not planned. There was nothing contrived or calculated about what he said... It mustn’t sound like a contrived compliment. = artificial ? spontaneous ADJ c darkgreen]disapproval 2. If you say that the plot of a play, film, or novel is contrived, you mean that it is unlikely and unconvincing. The plot seems contrived. ADJ c darkgreen]disapproval