Word.ws English Dictionary

contrary to popular belief

contrary to popular belief phrase: in opposition to what most laypeople would think is true.

Phrase

contrary to popular belief

  1. In opposition to what most laypeople would think is true.
    • Contrary to popular belief, Columbus was not actually the first person to discover America.
    • I regularly have cause to recall a scene from a novel called Madder Music, by Peter de Vries, in which the main character, a writer who specialises in polo, hears a match announcer telling newcomers to the ground that, contrary to popular belief, the ball is struck with the side of the mallet...2016 September 13, Tim Dowling, “Order force: the old grammar rule we all obey without realising”, in The Guardian

Questions about contrary to popular belief

What does contrary to popular belief mean?
Contrary to popular belief means in opposition to what most laypeople would think is true.
What part of speech is contrary to popular belief?
Contrary to popular belief is a phrase.

Words near contrary to popular belief in the dictionary

  1. contrarotating
  2. contrarotation
  3. contrary
  4. contrary to
  5. contrary to all expectations
  6. contrary to popular belief
  7. contrarying
  8. contrarywise
  9. contras
  10. contrascriptural
  11. contraseasonal

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: contrary to popular belief (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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