All 6 Uses of
contrary
in
The Age of Innocence
- "Why the devil," Archer explosively continued, "should you have thought—since I suppose you're appealing to me on the ground of my relationship to Madame Olenska—that I should take a view contrary to the rest of her family?"†
Chpt 25 (definition 1)
- Nevertheless, it might appear inhospitable—and contrary to old Catherine's express wishes—if Madame Olenska were allowed to arrive without any of the family being at the station to receive her.†
Chpt 28 (definition 1) *
- What she does is just the contrary—she fastens their eyelids open, so that they're never again in the blessed darkness.†
Chpt 29 *
- "Did you find the journey tiring?" he asked in a voice that surprised him by its naturalness; and she answered that, on the contrary, she had seldom travelled with fewer discomforts.†
Chpt 33 (definition 2)
- All these amiable and inexorable persons were resolutely engaged in pretending to each other that they had never heard of, suspected, or even conceived possible, the least hint to the contrary; and from this tissue of elaborate mutual dissimulation Archer once more disengaged the fact that New York believed him to be Madame Olenska's lover.†
Chpt 33 (definition 3) *
- On the contrary, from what he had seen of her, he thought she would be naturally included in it.†
Chpt 34 (definition 2) *
Definitions:
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(1) (contrary to as in: contrary to) in opposition toeditor's notes: You could also think of this as meaning, despite, or in spite of, or in conflict with; but since a common meaning of contrary is opposite, you many find it easiest to think of contrary to as in opposition to.
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(2) (on the contrary as in: on the contrary) an expression used to intensify denial of an ideaeditor's notes: More rarely, on the contrary is used to oppose an idea contained in what was just said rather than to oppose what was literally said. Here is an example: "I will not pay you for the work. On the contrary, I may sue you for damages." Suing for damages does not oppose not paying, but it does oppose the idea of paying.
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(3) (to the contrary as in: to the contrary) with an opposite or different effect; or something with an opposite or different effect
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(contrary as in: a contrary idea) different (perhaps opposite or mutually exclusive)editor's notes: In formal logic, contrary propositions or contrary arguments describe two things that cannot both be true. They might be described as mutually exclusive. For example, a pet cannot be both a cat and a dog. It doesn't need to be either, but if it is one, it cannot be the other. So the statement that a pet is a cat and the statement that the same pet is a dog, are contrary statements.