Word Direct Answers

What does "contrary" mean?

Contrary: We have lost our labor; they are gone a contrary way. Shak.

Additional senses

  1. 2.Opposed; contradictory; repugnant; inconsistent. Fame, if not double-faced, is double mouthed, And with contrary blast proclaims most deeds. Milton. The doctrine of the earth's motion appeared to be contrary to the sacred Scripture. Whewell.
  2. 3.Given to opposition; perverse; forward; wayward; as, a contrary disposition; a contrary child.
  3. 4.(Logic) Affirming the opposite; so opposed as to destroy each other; as, contrary propositions. Contrary motion (Mus.), the progression of parts in opposite directions, one ascending, the other descending.
  4. 5.A thing that is of contrary or opposite qualities. No contraries hold more antipathy Than I and such a knave. Shak.
  5. 6.An opponent; an enemy. [Obs.] Chaucer.
  6. 7.the opposite; a proposition, fact, or condition incompatible with another; as, slender proofs which rather show the contrary. See Converse, n., 1. Locke.
  7. 8.(Logic) See Contraries. On the contrary, in opposition; on the other hand. Swift. -- To the contrary, to an opposite purpose or intent; on the other side. "They did it, not for want of instruction to the contrary." Bp. Stillingfleet.
  8. 9.To contradict or oppose; to thwart. [Obs.] I was advised not to contrary the king. Bp. Latimer.

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