contradistinction

American  

[kon-truh-di-stingk-shuhn] / ˌkɒn trə dɪˈstɪŋk ʃən /

noun

1. distinction by opposition or contrast.

   plants and animals in contradistinction to humans.

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contradistinction British  

/ ˌkɒntrədɪˈstɪŋkʃən /

noun

1. a distinction made by contrasting different qualities

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Other Word Forms

• contradistinctive adjective
• contradistinctively adverb

Etymology

Origin of contradistinction

First recorded in 1640–50; contra- ¹ ( def. ) + distinction

Example Sentences

I don't think my parents grew into who they were in contradistinction to each other - she quiet because he noisy and vice versa.

From BBC • May 23, 2020

Greenblatt writes that the Genesis narratives of the Creation and Flood were written in contradistinction to the Babylonian narratives they resemble, to assert and preserve Hebrew religious culture.

From New York Times • Oct. 6, 2017

And NGC 5195 is indeed noticeably bereft of new stars—in contradistinction to the Whirlpool, which is rich in them.

From Economist • Jan. 7, 2016

Frankly, that’s an intriguing scenario and I would very much have appreciated some details – and I do mean “some” details in contradistinction to the absence of any substantive facts in this AWC.

From Forbes • Dec. 10, 2012

It is this more easygoing Lucretian, Baconian, Charltonian approach which eventually became that of the Royal Society and of eighteenth-century science, in contradistinction to the far bolder one of Montaigne and Descartes.

From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton