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).

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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.

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Example Sentences

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

From MarketWatch • Jan. 31, 2026

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 • Dec. 5, 2025

"But our study shows there's actually no conflict at all; on the contrary, these two things support each other."

From BBC • Jul. 11, 2025

For women with obesity class 3, on the contrary, weight gain values below the guidelines or weight loss were associated with reduced risk of the adverse composite outcome.

From Science Daily • Mar. 28, 2024

I almost expected a rebuff for this hardly well-timed question, but, on the contrary, waking out of his scowling abstraction, he turned his eyes towards me, and the shade seemed to clear off his brow.

From "Jane Eyre" by Charlotte Brontë

Related Words

• individually
• negatively
• separately
• variously