law of contradiction

American  

noun

Logic.

1. the law that a proposition cannot be both true and false or that a thing cannot both have and not have a given property.

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Example Sentences

The law of contradiction, after all, is not enforceable; if it were the jails would overflow.

From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 2, 2016

God has to submit to the logical law of contradiction, and He cannot, according to the theologians, cause two and two to make either more or less than four.

From Tragic Sense Of Life by Flitch, J. E. Crawford (John Ernest Crawford)

It follows from the logical law of contradiction that the proof of the existence theorem proves also the consistency of the axioms.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 11, Slice 6 "Geodesy" to "Geometry" by Various

For example, the law of contradiction states that nothing can both have a certain property and not have it.

From The Problems of Philosophy by Russell, Bertrand

Of course, the past cannot be different from what it was, but no more can our present wishes be different from what they are; this again is merely the law of contradiction.

From Mysticism and Logic and Other Essays by Russell, Bertrand