Word.ws English Dictionary

to the contrary

to the contrary is the alternative form of on the contrary.

Meaning of on 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

Questions about to the contrary

What is to the contrary the alternative form of?
To the contrary is the alternative form of on the contrary.

Words near to the contrary in the dictionary

  1. to the backbone
  2. to the best of one's knowledge
  3. to the bone
  4. to the bones
  5. to the brim
  6. to the contrary
  7. to the core
  8. to the day
  9. to the death
  10. to the dot
  11. to the effect

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: to the contrary (page history and authors); on the contrary (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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Cite this entry: “to the contrary.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/to_the_contrary. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.