contradictory
Syllables: con·tra·dic·to·ryUK/ˌkɒntɹəˈdɪkt(ə)ɹi//ˌkɑntɹəˈdɪktəɹi/
contradictory adjective: that contradicts something, such as an argument.
Adjective
contradictory (comparative more contradictory, superlative most contradictory)
- That contradicts something, such as an argument.
- This wide variety of genuinely contradictory holy sutras generated a serious problem in later Chinese and Japanese Buddhism. In the early period the Chinese and Japanese did not know that there were so many schools of Buddhism which disagreed with one another. Chinese and Japanese Buddhists assumed...2004, Robert Zeuschner, “Theravada and Mahayana Buddhism”, in Asian Thought: Traditions of India, China, Japan & Tibet, volume I, Echo Point Books & Media, LLC, published 2017, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 225
- That is itself a contradiction.
- Our attitudes toward sharks are contradictory. We fear them and yet we seek them out.1983, Richard Ellis, The Book of Sharks, Knopf, →ISBN, page 149
- That is diametrically opposed to something.
- Schemes […] contradictory to common sense.1715 January 23 (Gregorian calendar), Joseph Addison, “The Free-holder: No. 7. Wednesday, January 13. [1715.]”, in The Works of the Right Honourable Joseph Addison, Esq; […], volume IV, London: […]...
- Mutually exclusive.
- [White House deputy chief of policy Stephen] Miller has offered contradictory versions of Trump administration statements and court rulings.2025 April 18, Henry Gass, “Amid deportation dispute, Trump and courts square off on who has last word”, in The Christian Science Monitor
- Synonyms:
- incompatible
- Tending to contradict or oppose, contrarious.
Noun
contradictory (plural contradictories)
- Either of a pair of propositions, that cannot both be true or both be false.
- If one proposition is the negation of another, it follows trivially from the definition that the two propositions are contradictories. The converse does not hold. Two propositions can be contradictories without either being the negation of the other. For example:
3) John is more than six feet...2001, Mark Sainsbury, chapter 1, in Logical Forms — An Introduction to Philosophical Logic, 2nd edition, Blackwell Publishing, →ISBN, §4, page 20
- If one proposition is the negation of another, it follows trivially from the definition that the two propositions are contradictories. The converse does not hold. Two propositions can be contradictories without either being the negation of the other. For example:
contradictory meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
contradictory in Hindi
- विरोधाभासी
contradictory in Tamil
- நேர்மாறான, எதிர்மறை
contradictory in Marathi
- विरोधाभासी
contradictory in Urdu
- خلاف, متضاد
More languagesFewer languages
- contradictory in Bengali
- দ্বান্দ্বিক danddik
- contradictory in Malayalam
- മറുത്തുപറയുന്ന, വിപരീതമായ, പരസ്പരവിരുദ്ധം, പരസ്പരവിരുദ്ധമായ
- contradictory in Kannada
- ವಿರೋಧಾತ್ಮಕ
- contradictory in Punjabi
- ਵਿਰੋਧਾਭਾਸੀ
- contradictory in Gujarati
- વિરોધાભાસી
- contradictory in Nepali
- विरोधाभासी
- contradictory in Arabic
- نَقِيض naqīḍ, تَنَاقُضِيّ tanāquḍiyy
Examples of contradictory in a sentence
- The witness knitted together his testimony from contradictory pieces of hearsay.
- An argument is valid if and only if the set consisting of both (1) all of its premises and (2) the contradictory of its conclusion is inconsistent.
- Two events from the past week help crystallize this strange, contradictory moment for the U.S. economy.
Synonyms of contradictory
Forms of contradictory
| Adjective | |
|---|---|
| comparative | more contradictory |
| superlative | most contradictory |
| Noun | |
| plural | contradictories |
Origin of contradictory
Borrowed from Late Latin contradictorius, from Latin contradico. Equivalent to contradict + -ory.
Words formed from contradictory
Phrases with contradictory
Questions about contradictory
- What does contradictory mean?
- Contradictory means that contradicts something, such as an argument.
- What is contradictory in Hindi?
- Contradictory in Hindi is विरोधाभासी. See Contradictory meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is contradictory?
- Contradictory can be an adjective or a noun.
- How do you pronounce contradictory?
- Contradictory is pronounced /ˌkɒntɹəˈdɪkt(ə)ɹi/ (UK).
Words near contradictory in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: contradictory (page history and authors); contradictory (Hindi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); contradictory (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); contradictory (Marathi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); contradictory (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); দ্বান্দ্বিক (Bengali) (page history and authors); contradictory (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); contradictory (Kannada, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); contradictory (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); contradictory (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); contradictory (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-us-contradictory.ogg.
Cite this entry: “contradictory.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/contradictory. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.