contrariety

American  

[kon-truh-rahy-i-tee] / ˌkɒn trəˈraɪ ɪ ti /

noun

• contrarieties
  plural

1. the quality or state of being contrary.

2. something contrary or of opposite character; a contrary fact or statement.

3. Logic. the relation between contraries.

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contrariety British  

/ ˌkɒntrəˈraɪətɪ /

noun

1. opposition between one thing and another; disagreement

2. an instance of such opposition; inconsistency; discrepancy

3. logic the relationship between two contraries

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• noncontrariety
  noun

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• contrarieties
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of contrariety

1350–1400; Middle English contrariete (< Anglo-French ) < Late Latin contrārietās. See contrary, -ity

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

contrariety contrarieties

Opposition of action; counteraction or contrariety of things or principles. µ We speak of antagonism between two things, to or against a thing, and sometimes with a thing.

From Webster's Unabridged Dictionary by Noah Webster

The nomination of Martin Van Buren and Charles Francis Adams, of Massachusetts, was made with great unanimity and enthusiasm, though by a body composed of original elements of the most extreme contrariety.

From History of American Abolitionism by F. G. de Fontaine

Adversative, ad-vėrs′a-tiv, adj. denoting opposition, contrariety, or variety.

From Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary (part 1 of 4: A-D) by Various

The reason of all this contrariety has been assigned already.

From The Traditional Text of the Holy Gospels by John William Burgon

Somehow, the contrariety of the proprieties, as she translated them, bewildered and baffled him.

From The Prophet of the Great Smoky Mountains by Mary Noailles Murfree

But he was much more; as Louis Kronenberger points out in his introduction to this handy Portable, Boswell was both a kind of genius and "a tissue of contrarieties."

From Time Magazine Archive

With Martin, who has just been released after serving a prison term, Ayme takes a dreamlike but invigorating stroll through the contrarieties of Western society.

From Time Magazine Archive

Mr. Sharpe shook his head as if to clear it of contrarieties.

From "The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume I: The Pox Party" by M.T. Anderson

On the absurdities and contrarieties to which my star has made me subject.

From The Memoirs of Count Carlo Gozzi Volume the Second by Count Carlo Gozzi

First, Valentine made Michal tell him of all the horrors she had gone through, and what desperate suffering she had endured, and then he related to her the many contrarieties which had befallen himself.

From Pretty Michal by Mór Jókai

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