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.
- I'm getting contrary messages.
- I take issue with anyone who says the contrary.
- 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
- 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
- I took the contrary side, perhaps a little for dispute's sake.Benjamin Franklin -- The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin
- No, no; quite the contrary.Fyodor Dostoyevsky -- The Brothers Karamazov
- 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
- In a quiet way, very little attended to, she paid her tribute of admiration to Miss Crawford's beauty; but as she still continued to think Mr. Crawford very plain, in spite of her two cousins having repeatedly proved the contrary, she never mentioned him.Jane Austen -- Mansfield Park
contrary = different (perhaps opposite or mutually exclusive)
contrary = different (perhaps opposite or mutually exclusive)
contrary = different (perhaps opposite or mutually exclusive)
contrary = opposite
contrary = opposite or alternative
contrary = opposite
contrary = opposite
contrary = opposite
contrary = opposite
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.
- We were hoping to make better time, but we had to battle a contrary wind.
- Mary, Mary, quite contrary, How does your garden grow?
- "No, you didn't," I said, just to be contrary.Jerry Spinelli -- Milkweed
- 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
- 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
- "Later," Alessandro said, since part of his business was to be contrary.Mark Helprin -- A Soldier of the Great War
- Lizabetha Prokofievna, who disliked Varvara, although she had a great respect for her mother, was much annoyed by this sudden intimacy, and put it down to the general "contrariness" of her daughters, who were "always on the lookout for some new way of opposing her."Fyodor Dostoyevsky -- The Idiot
- She rushed out at an opposite door from the one her uncle was approaching, and was walking up and down the East room in the utmost confusion of contrary feeling, before Sir Thomas's politeness or apologies were over, or he had reached the beginning of the joyful intelligence which his visitor came to communicate.Jane Austen -- Mansfield Park
contrary = disagreeable
contrary = disagreeable (the wind was blowing in the opposite direction of travel)
contrary = disagreeable
contrary = disagreeable
contrary = disagreeable (not blowing as desired)
contrary = disagreeable
contrary = disagreeable
contrariness = disagreeableness
(Editor's note: The suffix "-ness" converts an adjective to a noun that means state or degree of. This is the same pattern you see in words like darkness, kindness, and coolness.)
contrary = disagreeable
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.
- 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 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
- 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
- We sometimes have strange, impossible dreams, contrary to all the laws of nature.Fyodor Dostoyevsky -- The Idiot
- 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
- 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 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
- A too rigid equality in rations, Squealer explained, would have been contrary to the principles of Animalism.George Orwell -- Animal Farm
contrary to = in opposition to
contrary to = in opposition to
contrary to = in opposition to
contrary to = in opposition to
contrary to = in opposition to
contrary to = in opposition to
contrary to = in opposition to
contrary to = opposite
contrary to = in opposition to
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.
on the contrary = an expression used to intensify denial of an idea
Other Uses (with this meaning)
- I will not pay you for the work. On the contrary, I may sue you for damages.
- The work of science has nothing whatever to do with consensus. Consensus is the business of politics. Science, on the contrary, requires only one investigator who happens to be right, which means that he or she has results that are verifiable by reference to the real world.Michael Crichton
- Now you do not "suffer fools gladly"; on the contrary, you "gladly make fools suffer."
- The whole recorded history of man is strewn with the wreckage of the great civilizations which have crumbled under price controls; and in forty centuries of human experience, there has never been – so far as I can discover - a single case where such controls have stopped, or even curbed for long, the forces of inflation. On the contrary, in every instance I can find, they have discouraged production, created shortages, and aggravated the very evils they were intended to cure.Irving S. Olds
- She did not want to get up; not because she was still tired - on the contrary she was wonderfully restedC.S. Lewis -- Prince Caspian: The Return to Narnia
- He is not at all angry, I assure you; on the contrary, he is surprised that you could suppose so.Fyodor Dostoyevsky -- The Brothers Karamazov
- He didn't seem at all upset at being almost knocked to the ground. On the contrary, his face split into a wide smile...J.K. Rowling -- Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
- Still, I don't want to moan and groan. On the contrary, I want to be brave!Anne Frank -- The Diary of a Young Girl
- I was doing harm to no one; on the contrary, I was doing all the good I could in my small way; yet I could never go out to breathe God's free air without trepidation at my heart.Harriet Jacobs -- Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl
on the contrary = an expression used to intensify denial of an idea
on the contrary = an expression used to intensify denial of an idea
on the contrary = an expression used to introduce a creative idea
on the contrary = an expression used to introduce a creative idea
on the contrary = an expression used to intensify denial of an idea
on the contrary = an expression used to intensify denial of an idea
on the contrary = an expression used to intensify denial of an idea
on the contrary = an expression used to intensify denial of an idea
on the contrary = an expression used to intensify denial of an idea
5 —as in:
to the contrary
Definition
with an opposite or different effect; or something with an opposite or different effect- What you do speaks so loudly that I cannot hear what you say to the contrary.
to the contrary = with an opposite or different effect
Other Uses (with this meaning)
- No matter what anyone says to the contrary, I heard him say it.
- Unless I hear to the contrary, I will meet you outside the theatre at eight.
- Public opinion to the contrary, he is not guilty.Thomas Huxley
- Meantime, we would take it for granted that all were friends, till they proved to the contrary.Harriet Jacobs -- Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl
- Harry had wondered whether Dumbledore would return from wherever he had been in time for Monday night's lesson, but having had no word to the contrary, he presented himself outside Dumbledore's office at eight o'clock, knocked, and was told to enter.J.K. Rowling -- Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
- In order to secure my credit and character as a tradesman, I took care not only to be in reality industrious and frugal, but to avoid all appearances to the contrary.Benjamin Franklin -- The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin
- Atticus, let's get on with these proceedings, and let the record show that the witness has not been sassed, her views to the contrary.Harper Lee -- To Kill a Mockingbird
- ...it was soon settled, that if nothing were heard to the contrary, Mrs. Grant might expect her.Jane Austen -- Mansfield Park
- Mother passed this story on to me, and I was secretly amazed that Peter, who'd been so angry at Dussel, had humbled himself, despite all his assurances to the contrary.Anne Frank -- The Diary of a Young Girl
to the contrary = with an opposite or different effect
to the contrary = something with an opposite or different effect
to the contrary = with an opposite or different effect; or something with an opposite or different effect
to the contrary = with a different effect
to the contrary = with an opposite effect
to the contrary = with a different opinion
to the contrary = with an opposite effect
to the contrary = of the opposite