Online dictionaryOnline dictionary
Synonyms, antonyms, pronunciation

  Home
English Dictionary      examples: 'day', 'get rid of', 'New York Bay'




Contrary   /kˈɑntrɛri/  /kəntrˈɛri/   Listen
Contrary

noun
(pl. contraries)
1.
A relation of direct opposition.  Synonyms: opposite, reverse.
2.
Exact opposition.
3.
A logical relation such that two propositions are contraries if both cannot be true but both can be false.
adjective
1.
Very opposed in nature or character or purpose.  "The facts point to a contrary conclusion"
2.
Of words or propositions so related that both cannot be true but both may be false.
3.
Resistant to guidance or discipline.  Synonyms: obstinate, perverse, wayward.  "An obstinate child with a violent temper" , "A perverse mood" , "Wayward behavior"
4.
In an opposing direction.  Synonym: adverse.  "A contrary wind"



Related searches:



WordNet 3.0 © 2010 Princeton University








Advanced search
     Find words:
Starting with
Ending with
Containing
Matching a pattern  

Synonyms
Antonyms
Quotes
Words linked to  

only single words



Share |
Add this dictionary
to your browser search bar





"Contrary" Quotes from Famous Books



... "On the contrary," observed Dashall, "it is the interest of the police, not utterly to destroy these receptacles of vice. They are the toleration haunts of profligacy, where the officers of justice are generally assured of meeting the ...
— Real Life In London, Volumes I. and II. • Pierce Egan

... brown,—all marked her out from other children, and made every one turn and look after her, as she glided hither and thither on the boat. Nevertheless, the little one was not what you would have called either a grave child or a sad one. On the contrary, an airy and innocent playfulness seemed to flicker like the shadow of summer leaves over her childish face, and around her buoyant figure. She was always in motion, always with a half smile on her ...
— Uncle Tom's Cabin • Harriet Beecher Stowe

... "Though," as he writes, "I never had an opportunity of verifying any thing like Miss Pardoe's anecdote of the 'sentries being ordered to face about when presenting arms,' rather than be permitted to gaze on the tempting and forbidden fruit; but, on the contrary, witnessed soldiers escorting all the sultanas' carriages: it is nevertheless true, that a gruff attendant attacked and found fault with me for daring to raise my eyes to a beautiful Turkish woman, whom it was quite impossible I could admire beyond her forehead and two large ...
— Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, No. 327 - Vol. 53, January, 1843 • Various

... brother officers shared the lad's view, or whether they, as I half-suspected the men of doing, were quietly waiting to see of what stuff I was made; but, in either case, they never, with the solitary exception of Briscoe, the second mate, permitted such an attitude to appear. On the contrary, they were genial, cordial, and friendly in a very marked degree, so that within the first twenty-four hours of our being at sea I felt thoroughly at home with all of them. If I had a preference ...
— The First Mate - The Story of a Strange Cruise • Harry Collingwood

... contrary Lydgate was more than hurt—he was utterly confounded that she had risked herself on a strange horse without referring the matter to his wish. After the first almost thundering exclamations of astonishment, which sufficiently warned Rosamond of what ...
— Middlemarch • George Eliot


More quotes...



Copyright © 2025 Dictionary One.com