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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

devise.

To use one’s intellect to plan or design (something).

6 characters2 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

verb/dɪˈvaɪz/
  1. To use one’s intellect to plan or design (something).

    transitive
    to devise an argument; to devise a machine, or a new system of writing
  2. To leave (property) in a will.

    transitive
  3. To form a scheme; to lay a plan; to contrive; to consider.

    archaic · intransitive
  4. To plan or scheme for; to plot to obtain.

    archaic · transitive
  5. To imagine; to guess.

    obsolete
Where this word comes from

PIE word *dwóh₁ From Middle English devisen, devysen, from Old French deviser, from Vulgar Latin devisō, from Latin dīvisō, frequentative of dīvidō.

noun/dɪˈvaɪz/
  1. The act of leaving real property in a will.

  2. Such a will, or a clause in such a will.

  3. The real property left in such a will.

  4. Design, devising.

Where this word comes from

From Middle French devise. Doublet of device.

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.