contrivance vs defeat

contrivance

noun
  • A means, such as an elaborate plan or strategy, to accomplish a certain objective. 

  • Something overly artful or artificial. 

  • A (mechanical) device to perform a certain task. 

defeat

noun
  • The act or instance of defeating, of overcoming, vanquishing. 

  • The act or instance of being defeated, of being overcome or vanquished; a loss. 

  • Frustration (by prevention of success), stymieing; (law) nullification. 

verb
  • To nullify 

  • To prevent (something) from being achieved. 

  • To reduce, to nothing, the strength of. 

  • To overcome in battle or contest. 

How often have the words contrivance and defeat occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )