Word.ws English Dictionary

contrariously

contrariously adverb: contrarily; oppositely.

Adverb

contrariously (comparative more contrariously, superlative most contrariously)

  1. (obsolete) Contrarily; oppositely.
    • To one consent, may work contrariously:
      As many arrows, loosed several ways,
      Come to one mark.1599 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Life of Henry the Fift”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount...
    • Thou might not chaunge but if thou from rule of reason varye, in whiche variaunce to come to thilke blysse desyred contrariously thou werchesc. 1384, Thomas Usk, The Testament of Love

Forms of contrariously

comparativemore contrariously
superlativemost contrariously

Origin of contrariously

From contrarious + -ly.

Questions about contrariously

What does contrariously mean?
Contrariously means contrarily; oppositely.
What part of speech is contrariously?
Contrariously is an adverb.

Words near contrariously in the dictionary

  1. contrarily
  2. contrariness
  3. contrarinesses
  4. contrariosity
  5. contrarious
  6. contrariously
  7. contrariousness
  8. contrarities
  9. contrarity
  10. contrariways
  11. contrariwise

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: contrariously (page history and authors). 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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