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Definitions

contrary

[kon-trer-ee, kuhn-trair-ee] / ˈkɒn trɛr i, kənˈtrɛər i /


Example Sentences

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"The judge made an express finding to the contrary," she said.

From BBC Jul. 1, 2026

Many investors believe the contrary because gold’s record as a bear market hedge has been better in recent decades than it was over the entire two centuries this new study analyzed—and memories are short.

From Barron's Jun. 30, 2026

“The opening of the Strait of Hormuz is contrary to the obligations of the officials and is considered a strategic mistake,” the assembly said.

From The Wall Street Journal Jun. 30, 2026

The news, on the contrary, helps prove that we can’t.

From MarketWatch Jun. 25, 2026

Mr. Lias, contrary to his usual nature, said next to nothing.

From "Cold Sassy Tree" by Olive Ann Burns

We grow up to discover there are names in every culture for that — yin and yang, the Apollonian and Dionysian, Vishnu and Shiva, thesis and antithesis, the law of contraries, the dialectic.

From New York Times Feb. 12, 2024

Art is made of contraries, of ambivalence and ambiguity; it never wants us to feel a single thing.

From The Guardian May 8, 2020

She revels in detail but writes vast, moral poems that help us live in a world of contraries in which “we hold still for the camera, believing/ it will shore up time, knowing it won’t.”

From Los Angeles Times Nov. 11, 2016

“The knowledge of contraries is one and the same,” as Aristotle said.

From Slate Jul. 8, 2014

One has to unlearn, for this special occasion, the art so necessary in ordinary society, of interpreting terms by their contraries.

From Tales from Blackwood Volume 9 by Various




Vocabulary lists containing contrary


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