All 13 Uses
contrary
in
The Mill on the Floss
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- And he had really given himself the trouble of recommending Mr. Stelling to his friend Tulliver without any positive expectation of a solid, definite advantage resulting to himself, notwithstanding the subtle indications to the contrary which might have misled a too-sagacious observer.†
Chpt 1.3
- He had no private understanding with the Rev. Walter Stelling; on the contrary, he knew very little of that M.A. and his acquirements,—not quite enough, perhaps, to warrant so strong a recommendation of him as he had given to his friend Tulliver.†
Chpt 1.3 *
- Not but what I've allays conducted myself civil to your kin, and there isn't one of 'em can say the contrary, though my equils they aren't, and nobody shall make me say it.†
Chpt 1.12
- "It must be no client of Wakem's," he said to himself; and yet at the end of a fortnight it turned out to the contrary; not because Mr. Tulliver's will was feeble, but because external fact was stronger.†
Chpt 1.13
- Not that Mr. Stelling was a harsh-tempered or unkind man; quite the contrary.†
Chpt 2.1
- His own father was a good man, and he would readily have fought any one who said the contrary.†
Chpt 2.3
- Shall I?" he added, pausing in his stamping with a sudden alarm, lest the contrary might be possible.†
Chpt 2.3
- Maggie, on the contrary, after her momentary delight in Tom's speech, had relapsed into her state of trembling indignation.†
Chpt 3.3
- And now my father's ill, and not able to speak for himself, I shouldn't like anything to be done contrary to what he said to me.†
Chpt 3.3 *
- Tulliver, then, could be no obstruction to Wakem; on the contrary, he was a poor devil whom the lawyer had defeated several times; a hot-tempered fellow, who would always give you a handle against him.†
Chpt 3.7
- And I don't believe there is any enmity in my own father's mind; I think he has proved the contrary.†
Chpt 5.1 *
- The very fact that he feared and half expected it would be sure to make this thought rush in, in the absence of positive proof to the contrary.†
Chpt 6.7
- were conspiring now to make poor dear aunt Tulliver, and cousin Tom, and naughty Maggie too, if she were not obstinately bent on the contrary, as happy as they deserved to be after all their troubles.†
Chpt 6.12
Definitions:
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(1)
(contrary as in: a contrary idea) different (perhaps opposite or mutually exclusive)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.
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(2)
(contrary as in: a contrary personality) disagreeable -- typically in reference to someone's personality
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(3)
(contrary to as in: contrary to) in opposition toYou 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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(4)
(on the contrary as in: on the contrary) an expression used to intensify denial of an idea
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(5)
(to the contrary as in: to the contrary) with an opposite or different effect; or something with an opposite or different effect
- (6) (meaning too rare to warrant focus)