HOW TO PRONOUNCE
contrary
/ˈkɑntɹɛɹi/
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American Pronunciation Guide · 1:03
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What does contrary mean?
adjective
- Opposite; in an opposite direction; in opposition; adverse.
- Opposed; contradictory; inconsistent.
- Given to opposition; perverse; wayward.
More meanings (11)
adverb
- Contrarily
noun
- The opposite.
- One of a pair of propositions that cannot both be simultaneously true, though they may both be false.
- (historical) A type of loaded die.
verb
- (obsolete) To oppose; to frustrate.
- (obsolete) To impugn.
- (obsolete) To contradict (someone or something).
- (obsolete) To do the opposite of (someone or something).
- (obsolete) To act inconsistently or perversely; to act in opposition to.
- (obsolete) To argue; to debate; to uphold an opposite opinion.
- (obsolete) To be self-contradictory; to become reversed.
Definitions regrouped for readability · CC BY-SA 4.0
IPA pronunciation
/ˈkɑntɹɛɹi/
Wiktionary contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0 ↗Pronunciation varies by speaker and region. About these dictionary pronunciations.
In the pages of books
See this word in context.
Stability, on the contrary, requires that the hands in which power is lodged should continue for a length of time the same.
Jeff--he was getting as bad as they were--solemnly replied that, on the contrary, the poorer they were, the more children they had.
More book examples (3)
To every villainous meanness of this model man it gave a hidden, higher, Socialistic interpretation, the exact contrary of its real character.
To the right, on the contrary, lay a black hollow resembling a vast well, unfathomable and gloomy, drilled into the lunar soil.
“On the contrary, dear,” said Dorothea, “I never could do anything that I liked. I have never carried out any plan yet.”