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Synonyms

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

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

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

Hitler believed the German people must never be allowed to “cool off”; on the contrary, they had to be subjected to a perpetual drumbeat.

From Salon • May 24, 2025

Not that I humbled myself by a slavish notion of inferiority: on the contrary, I just said—

From "Jane Eyre" by Charlotte Brontë

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

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.