EN

Synonyms for device

  • noun

Most common

apparatus appliance type

Synonyms by meaning

Noun

1. Scheme — A project or scheme, often designed to deceive; a stratagem; an artifice. 1602, Shakespeare, The Merry Wives…

scheme, way, stratagem, artifice, plan, project, maneuver US, manoeuvre UK, ploy, trickery, ruse, wile, dodge, shift dated

2. Appliance — any piece of equipment made for a particular purpose, especially a mechanical or electrical one

appliance, apparatus, design, gadget, machine, equipment, tool, contraption, widget

3. Gimmick

gimmick, trick, twist

4. Invention — power of devising; invention; contrivance

invention dated, contrivance dated

Other

type, means, cipher, cypher UK, show, symbol, badge, re-sort, sign, resource, agency, motto, legend

Antonyms

nondevice

All antonyms of device →

Definitions

  1. n. 1

    Any piece of equipment made for a particular purpose, especially a mechanical or electrical one.

    Near-synonyms: equipment, tool, machine

  2. n. 2

    A project or scheme, often designed to deceive; a stratagem; an artifice. 1602, Shakespeare, The Merry Wives of Windsor. "This is our device,/ That Falstaff at that oak shall meet with us."

  3. n. 3

    Power of devising; invention; contrivance.

  4. n. 4

    A peripheral device; an item of hardware.

Related words

Phrases
personal flotation device flotation device doomsday device storage device spring-loaded camming device device driver radiological dispersal device peripheral device

Forms

Plural
devices → schemes, ways, stratagems, artifices…

Choose the right word

Device or Contrivance?

A contrivance or device may be either good or bad. A device is something studied out for promoting an end, as in a mechanism; the word is used of indirect action, often, but not necessarily directed to an evil, selfish, or injurious end.

J. C. Fernald, English Synonyms and Antonyms (1914)

Example sentences

  • apparatus Something is wrong with the experimental apparatus.
  • appliance The appliance is wonderfully simple to operate.
  • type This is the same type of camera as the one I lost.

Popularity over time

Word1850 → 2019Trend
devicesteady
apparatusfalling
appliancefalling
typefalling

Use in printed books, per decade from 1850 to 2019.

By length

3 letters
way1
4 letters
show1, plan1, type1, sign1, tool1, ploy1, ruse1, wile1
5 letters
means1, shift1, trick1, twist1, badge1, dodge1, motto2
6 letters
design2, agency3, scheme1, legend2, symbol2, gadget2, cipher2, widget2, cypher2
7 letters
project2, machine2, gimmick2
8 letters
resource2, maneuver3, trickery3, artifice3
9 letters
equipment3, invention3, apparatus4, appliance3, manoeuvre, stratagem3
11 letters
contraption3, contrivance3

The small number after each word is its number of syllables (motto2 = 2 syllables).

In other languages

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Vorrichtung
Català
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