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).

---

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.

---

Example Sentences

It is, on the contrary, a way of continuing their legacy and celebrating them.

From MarketWatch

The findings don’t mean that the tariffs are a win for Europe—on the contrary.

From The Wall Street Journal

“It is not a great disproportion between ourselves and others which produces envy, but on the contrary, a proximity,” wrote David Hume, the 18th-century philosopher and economist.

From The Wall Street Journal

She said that on the contrary, she spends lavishly on him, including partly paying for a Mercedes for his 19th birthday.

From The Wall Street Journal

But, he added "on the contrary it can also serve to decrease reporting and decrease the level of threat and risk".

From BBC

Related Words

• individually
• negatively
• separately
• variously