on the contrary

American  

phrase

1. the opposite is true; not at all; by no means (often used as an interjection).

2. (used to introduce a statement contradictory or opposing to a previous one).

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on the contrary Idioms  

1. It's the opposite, as in Is his shoulder hurting?—On the contrary, it's all better, or We thought you didn't like opera.—On the contrary, I love it. This phrase, at first put as by or for or in the contrary, dates from the late 1300s; on has been used since the mid-1800s.

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Example Sentences

On the contrary, sometimes it unfolds out of the public eye; self-abnegation can be a reliable marker of character.

From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 19, 2026

On the contrary, it is entirely to be expected that market prices will swing wildly on either side of fair value — not just for bitcoin, but for every investable asset.

From MarketWatch • Feb. 10, 2026

On the contrary, Carlson eventually came to realize that the pathway to professional success was to double, triple and even quadruple down on being the hack Stewart accused him of being.

From Salon • Feb. 2, 2026

On the contrary, DeepSeek’s models are impressive, “but pure model-based businesses are vulnerable to capability commoditization and experience much slower translation of capability into outcomes,” Su adds.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 16, 2026

On the contrary, when he pictured her stepping into nothingness, re-living that moment he’d already re-lived so many times already, he thought she’d had an excited expression on her face.

From "Found" by Margaret Peterson Haddix

Related Words

• individually
• negatively
• separately
• variously