Contrary

How to spell contrary

8 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce contrary

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does contrary mean?

1. adjectiveOpposite in nature, direction, or meaning; going against something.
2. nounThe opposite fact or idea, usually in the phrase 'on the contrary' or 'to the contrary'.
3. adjectivePerversely inclined to disagree or do the opposite of what is wanted; awkwardly stubborn.

Contrary in a sentence

• adjective

  The survey results were contrary to what the managers had expected.

• noun

  The report found no evidence to the contrary of the original claim.

• adjective

  The toddler was in a contrary mood and refused every meal we offered.

• adjective

  Strong winds blowing in the contrary direction delayed the flight home.

• noun

  Far from being dull, the lecture was, on the contrary, genuinely gripping.

• adjective

  He can be so contrary that he argues against ideas he actually agrees with.

Where does contrary come from?

Language of origin: Latin

Contrary comes from the Latin contrarius, meaning 'opposite' or 'set against', which was formed from the preposition and adverb contra, 'against' or 'in opposition to'. Latin contra itself is related to the idea of facing or standing opposite, and it survives all over English in words such as 'contradict' (literally 'to speak against'), 'counter', and 'contrast'. The word travelled into English in the 1300s by way of Anglo-Norman and Old French contrarie, keeping both its sense of logical opposition and a livelier sense of a person who is stubbornly difficult. The spelling preserves the Latin contra- prefix intact, which is the useful memory hook: think 'contra' plus '-ry', not 'contrery'. From the same family of contra- words English also gained the legal phrase 'au contraire' borrowed back from French, underlining how persistently this little Latin root for 'against' has stuck around.

How the word is built

• contra- (against, opposite)
• -ary (adjective/noun suffix)