Sample sentences for CONTRARY - verbalworkout.com

5 meanings

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1 —as in:
a contrary idea

Definition

different (perhaps opposite or mutually exclusive)

The facts point to a contrary conclusion.

contrary = different (perhaps opposite or mutually exclusive)

Other Uses (with this meaning)

We're trying to choose between two contrary solutions.

contrary = different (perhaps opposite or mutually exclusive)

I'm getting contrary messages.

contrary = different (perhaps opposite or mutually exclusive)

I take issue with anyone who says the contrary.

contrary = different (perhaps opposite or mutually exclusive)

Those who cling to the untrue doctrine that violence never settles anything would be advised to conjure up the ghosts of Napoleon Bonaparte and of the Duke of Wellington and let them debate it. The ghost of Hitler could referee, and the jury might well be the Dodo, the Great Auk, and the Passenger Pigeon. Violence, naked force, has settled more issues in history than has any other factor, and the contrary opinion is wishful thinking at its worst. Nations and peoples who forget this basic truth have always paid for it with their lives and freedoms.
Robert Heinlein

contrary = opposite

From the very beginning of his illness ... Ivan Ilych's life had been divided between two contrary and alternating moods:
Leo Tolstoy -- The Death of Ivan Ilych

contrary = opposite or alternative

I took the contrary side, perhaps a little for dispute's sake.
Benjamin Franklin -- The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin

contrary = opposite

No, no; quite the contrary.
Fyodor Dostoyevsky -- The Brothers Karamazov

contrary = opposite

— This trick may chance to scathe you,—I know what: You must contrary me! marry, 'tis time.
William Shakespeare -- Romeo and Juliet

contrary = contradict

But it means also the ability to believe that black is white, and more, to know that black is white, and to forget that one has ever believed the contrary.
George Orwell -- 1984

contrary = opposite

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2 —as in:
a contrary personality

Definition

disagreeable — typically in reference to someone's personality

She has a contrary personality.

contrary = disagreeable

Other Uses (with this meaning)

She just said it to be contrary.

contrary = disagreeable

We were hoping to make better time, but we had to battle a contrary wind.

contrary = disagreeable (the wind was blowing in the opposite direction of travel)

Mary, Mary, quite contrary, How does your garden grow?

contrary = disagreeable

"No, you didn't," I said, just to be contrary.
Jerry Spinelli -- Milkweed

contrary = disagreeable

She's contrary as a very witch herself.
Elizabeth George Speare -- The Witch of Blackbird Pond

contrary = disagreeable

He gave me besides a great bag holding all of the contrary winds, so they could not trouble us.
Madeline Miller -- Circe

contrary = disagreeable (not blowing as desired)

What storm is this that blows so contrary?
William Shakespeare -- Romeo and Juliet

contrary = disagreeably

Not that we would have endangered his safety by any tremendous weather—but only by a steady contrary wind, or a calm.
Jane Austen -- Mansfield Park

contrary = disagreeable (not blowing as desired)

She'd have spent the rest of her life on it and died without so much agony, but she was too contrary-
Harper Lee -- To Kill a Mockingbird

contrary = disagreeable

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3 —as in:
contrary to

Definition

in opposition to

Contrary to popular belief, the largest pyramid is in Mexico—not Egypt.

contrary to = in opposition to

Other Uses (with this meaning)

We will not allow members to act contrary to our code of ethics.

contrary to = in opposition to

Treat with utmost respect your power of forming opinions, for this power alone guards you against making assumptions that are contrary to nature and judgments that overthrow the rule of reason.
Marcus Aurelius -- Meditations, 3.9

contrary to = in opposition to

Contrary to general belief, I do not believe that friends are necessarily the people you like best, they are merely the people who got there first.
Peter Ustinov

contrary to = in opposition to

I asked him if he didn't know it was contrary to law; and that slaves were whipped and imprisoned for teaching each other to read.
Harriet Jacobs -- Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl

contrary to = in opposition to

We sometimes have strange, impossible dreams, contrary to all the laws of nature.
Fyodor Dostoyevsky -- The Idiot

contrary to = in opposition to

how could he mean to behave this way, contrary to the principle that had always governed his treatment of others—his sense of decency.
Laura Esquivel -- Like Water for Chocolate

contrary to = in opposition to

While he spoke, Maria was looking apprehensively round at Edmund in full expectation that he must oppose such an enlargement of the plan as this: so contrary to all their first protestations; but Edmund said nothing.
Jane Austen -- Mansfield Park

contrary to = in opposition to

As the minuteness of the parts formed a great hindrance to my speed, I resolved, contrary to my first intention, to make the being of a gigantic stature, that is to say, about eight feet in height, and proportionably large.
Mary Shelley -- Frankenstein

contrary to = opposite or different

Contrary to my usual practice, I'm going to write you a detailed description of the food situation, since it's become a matter of some difficulty and importance, not only here in the Annex, but in all of Holland, all of Europe and even beyond.
Anne Frank -- The Diary of a Young Girl

contrary to = opposite

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4 —as in:
on the contrary

Definition

an expression used to intensify denial of an idea

She was not smiling. On the contrary, she frowned.