contrary purpose

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Efforts designed to ameliorate the condition of an individual were sure of answering a contrary purpose.

From Ormond, Volume II (of 3) or, The Secret Witness by Brown, Charles Brockden

What could be more intelligible than that the inertia of matter, or pure chance, or some contrary purpose, should mar the expression of any platonic idea exercising its magic influence over the world?

From Character and Opinion in the United States by Santayana, George

And no sooner has a new rotation of affairs given the superiority to another party, than another law, equally unreasonable and equally new, is found equally necessary for a contrary purpose.

From The Works of Samuel Johnson, Volume 11. Parlimentary Debates II. by Johnson, Samuel

The rockets had primarily been placed to check the fall of the projectile upon the moon, and now they were going to employ them for a directly contrary purpose.

From From the Earth to the Moon; and, Round the Moon by Verne, Jules

This I have not only endeavoured to avoid, but also have used a method for the contrary purpose.

From The Lives of the Poets of Great Britain and Ireland (1753) Volume IV by Cibber, Theophilus