Word.ws English Dictionary

on the contrary

on the contrary prepositional phrase: opposite of what had earlier been expected or assumed; to the contrary.

Prepositional phrase

  1. (conjunctive) Opposite of what had earlier been expected or assumed; to the contrary.
    • Many persons have an idea that a habitually dark room is best for the eyes. On the contrary, it weakens them and renders them permanently unable to bear the light of the sun.1876, Eliza Bisbee Duffey, Our Behaviour: A Manual of Etiquette and Dress of the Best American Society, Philadelphia
    • Even if they managed to strike Japan, the United States or South Korea with nuclear weapons — a big if, given that they do not have a reliable delivery system — they could not save themselves from ultimate defeat. On the contrary, the use of nuclear or other terror weapons would be certain to...2013 April 9, Andrei Lankov, “Stay Cool. Call North Korea’s Bluff.”, in New York Times

on the contrary meaning in Tamil, Urdu, Bengali and Kannada

on the contrary in Tamil

அதற்கு எதிராக

on the contrary in Urdu

opposite
اس کے برخلاف īs key barḵelāf

on the contrary in Bengali

opposite
অন্য দিকে

on the contrary in Kannada

ವಿರುದ್ಧವಾಗಿ, ಪ್ರತಿಯಾಗಿ, ಹಾಗಲ್ಲದೆ, ಪ್ರತಿಕೂಲವಾಗಿ, ತದ್ವಿರುದ್ಧವಾಗಿ, ವ್ಯತಿರಿಕ್ತವಾಗಿ
More languagesFewer languages
on the contrary in Arabic
عَلَى الْعَكْس ʕalā l-ʕaks, بِالْعَكْس bi-l-ʕaks
on the contrary in Thai
ในทางกลับกัน

Synonyms of on the contrary

All synonyms of on the contrary

Questions about on the contrary

What does on the contrary mean?
On the contrary means opposite of what had earlier been expected or assumed; to the contrary.
What is on the contrary in Tamil?
On the contrary in Tamil is அதற்கு எதிராக. See On the contrary meaning in Tamil.
What part of speech is on the contrary?
On the contrary is a prepositional phrase.

Words near on the contrary in the dictionary

  1. on the case
  2. on the cheap
  3. on the clock
  4. on the club
  5. on the come
  6. on the contrary
  7. on the couch
  8. on the count of
  9. on the critical list
  10. on the crook
  11. on the cross

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: on the contrary (page history and authors); on the contrary (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); on the contrary (Kannada Wiktionary) (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.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-on the contrary.wav.

Cite this entry: “on the contrary.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/on_the_contrary. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.