to the contrary
IdiomsExample Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Arguments to the contrary are overly cautious and pedantic.
From Slate • Mar. 29, 2026
Despite mounds of evidence to the contrary, I just can’t bring myself to believe they have all the ingredients to become just the third franchise in baseball history to three-peat.
From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 22, 2026
“Despite all evidence to the contrary, Marshall still believed,” in Mr. Dikötter’s words, that the Communists “were not doctrinaire ideologists, but merely rural reformers who could help shape a democratic China.”
From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 13, 2026
He genuinely believes he can change reality simply by relentlessly stating something as fact in the face of all evidence to the contrary.
From Salon • Feb. 12, 2026
Despite a good deal of opinion to the contrary, an item whose price has been increased by 50 percent and then reduced by 50 percent has had a net reduction in price of 25 percent.
From "Innumeracy: Mathematical Illiteracy and Its Consequences" by John Allen Paulos
![]()
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.