All 8 Uses of
contradict
in
Oliver Twist
- Oliver stared innocently in Mr. Bumble's face at this somewhat contradictory style of address; but that gentleman prevented his offering any remark thereupon, by leading him at once into an adjoining room: the door of which was open.†
Chpt 3contradictory = in disagreement
- Now, the fact was, that in the inmost recesses of his own heart, Mr. Grimwig was strongly disposed to admit that Oliver's appearance and manner were unusually prepossessing; but he had a strong appetite for contradiction, sharpened on this occasion by the finding of the orange-peel; and, inwardly determining that no man should dictate to him whether a boy was well-looking or not, he had resolved, from the first, to oppose his friend.†
Chpt 14contradiction = something (typically a statement) that disagrees with itself; or (more rarely) the act of disagreeing
- The spirit of contradiction was strong in Mr. Grimwig's breast, at the moment; and it was rendered stronger by his friend's confident smile.†
Chpt 14 *
- 'Certainly,' replied the shorter man; 'and whatever Mr. Giles says, it isn't our place to contradict him.†
Chpt 28contradict = disagree
- This done, amidst the breathless interest of all beholders, they came in again; and Mr. Giles and Brittles were put through a melodramatic representation of their share in the previous night's adventures: which they performed some six times over: contradicting each other, in not more than one important respect, the first time, and in not more than a dozen the last.†
Chpt 31contradicting = disagreeing
- Acting upon this suggestion, they adjourned to a neighbouring apartment, where Mr. Brittles, being called in, involved himself and his respected superior in such a wonderful maze of fresh contradictions and impossibilities, as tended to throw no particular light on anything, but the fact of his own strong mystification; except, indeed, his declarations that he shouldn't know the real boy, if he were put before him that instant; that he had only taken Oliver to be he, because Mr. Giles had said he was; and that Mr. Giles had, five minutes previously, admitted in the kitchen, that he began to be very much afraid he had been a little too hasty.†
Chpt 31contradictions = things that disagree with themselves; or (more rarely) acts of disagreeing
- The hope of eventually clearing himself with them, too, and explaining how he had been forced away, had buoyed him up, and sustained him, under many of his recent trials; and now, the idea that they should have gone so far, and carried with them the belief that he was an impostor and a robber—a belief which might remain uncontradicted to his dying day—was almost more than he could bear.†
Chpt 32uncontradicted = not disagreed withstandard prefix: The prefix "un-" in uncontradicted means not and reverses the meaning of contradicted. This is the same pattern you see in words like unhappy, unknown, and unlucky.
- They drove straight to the door of the chief hotel (which Oliver used to stare up at, with awe, and think a mighty palace, but which had somehow fallen off in grandeur and size); and here was Mr. Grimwig all ready to receive them, kissing the young lady, and the old one too, when they got out of the coach, as if he were the grandfather of the whole party, all smiles and kindness, and not offering to eat his head—no, not once; not even when he contradicted a very old postboy about the nearest road to London, and maintained he knew it best, though he had only come that way once, and that time fast asleep.†
Chpt 51contradicted = disagreed
Definition:
disagree
in various senses, including:
- to say something is not true -- as in "She contradicted his testimony."
- to say something else is true when both can't be true -- as in "I don't believe her. She contradicted herself as she told us what happened."
- to be in conflict with -- as in "Her assertions contradict accepted scientific principles."