contrarian

American

[kuhn-trair-ee-uhn] / kənˈtrɛər i ən /

noun

a person who takes an opposing view, especially one who rejects the majority opinion, as in economic matters.

contrarian British

/ kənˈtrɛərɪən /

noun

1. a contrary or obstinate person
2. ( as modifier )
  
  a contrarian investor
  contrarian instincts

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of contrarian

contr(ary) + -arian

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.

See Examples For:

contrarian

It’s a contrarian call: the latest global fund manager survey compiled by Bank of America found that investors said they were more overweight on tech than any other sector.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 14, 2026

Berkshire Hathaway has been making contrarian bets on builders this year.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 11, 2026

An exquisite anthology of Cohn’s writing from his early days through the present, “Corner Boy” bristles with the electric, contrarian voice of a working cultural critic.

From Salon ● Oct. 8, 2026

And amid the doomsaying, streaks of contrarian optimism are starting to emerge.

From Slate ● Oct. 8, 2026

Given that there is some rough economic estimate of a stock’s value, regression to the mean can sometimes be used to justify a kind of contrarian strategy.

From "Innumeracy: Mathematical Illiteracy and Its Consequences" by John Allen Paulos

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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023