Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for April 15, 2023 is: contraption \kun-TRAP-shun\ noun

A contraption is a usually mechanical or electronic [device](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/device) or [gadget](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/gadget).

// The students worked as a team to create a [Rube Goldberg](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/Rube%20Goldberg) contraption that can fill a pet food bowl at the press of a lever.

[See the entry >](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/contraption)

Examples:

“In October of last year, an enormous new creature appeared on the seabed of the Pacific Ocean, about 1,400 miles southwest of San Diego. It was a remote-controlled, 90-ton machine the size of a small house, lowered from an industrial ship on a cable nearly 3 miles long. Once it was settled on the ocean floor, the black, white, and Tonka-truck-yellow contraption began grinding its way forward, its lights [lancing](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/lance#h2) through the darkness, steel treads biting into the silt.” — Vince Beister, WIRED, 28 Feb. 2023

Did you know?

In the words of one Little Mermaid, “I’ve got [gadgets](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/gadget) and [gizmos](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/gizmo) a-plenty.” It would have been on-theme (though perhaps a bit clunky) for the aquatic princess to include in her [siren song](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/siren%20song) the word contraption. Synonymous with both gadget and gizmo, and [widget](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/widget) too, in referring to mechanical and electronic devices, contraption is also one of a raft of terms people reach for when talking about various human-made [bits and bobs](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/bits%20and%20bobs), whether mechanical or not. (It's thought to have possibly been formed as a blend of contrivance, trap, and invention.) Want more [thingamabob](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/thingamabob) words? Try [doohickey](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/doohickey), [thingamajig](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/thingamajig), [dingus](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/dingus), or [doodad](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/doodad).