Contradictory
[kɒntrə'dɪkt(ə)rɪ] or [,kɑntrə'dɪktəri]
Definition
(noun.) two propositions are contradictories if both cannot be true (or both cannot be false) at the same time.
(adj.) unable to be both true at the same time .
(adj.) of words or propositions so related that both cannot be true and both cannot be false; '`perfect' and `imperfect' are contradictory terms' .
Checked by Jo--From WordNet
Definition
(a.) Affirming the contrary; implying a denial of what has been asserted; also, mutually contradicting; inconsistent.
(a.) Opposing or opposed; repugnant.
(n.) A proposition or thing which denies or opposes another; contrariety.
(n.) propositions with the same terms, but opposed to each other both in quality and quantity.
Inputed by Effie
Synonyms and Synonymous
a. Opposite, contrary, inconsistent, repugnant.
Editor: Spence
Examples
- Now, really, Dodo, said Celia, with rather a deeper guttural than usual, you _are_ contradictory: first one thing and then another. George Eliot. Middlemarch.
- He stared after her in a turmoil of contradictory feelings. Edith Wharton. The Age of Innocence.
- The witnesses were stupid and unreliable and contradictory, as witnesses always are. Mark Twain. The Innocents Abroad.
- A system so various in its structure has many contradictory aspects, some very attractive, and some very repellent to a liberal intelligence. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
- But can anything be imagined more absurd and contradictory than this reasoning? David Hume. A Treatise of Human Nature.
- This is verbally self-contradictory, but only verbally. John Dewey. Democracy and Education.
- But it must be confessed, that this mixture seems at first sight to be contradictory to my system. David Hume. A Treatise of Human Nature.
- The fact that this culture is multiform and often contradictory is a sign that more and more of the interests of life are finding expression. Walter Lippmann. A Preface to Politics.
- Never mind what I make it, my friend, observed Mr. Jaggers, with a knowing and contradictory toss of his head. Charles Dickens. Great Expectations.
- Do you mean to say I possess all these contradictory qualities at one and the same time? Fergus Hume. The Island of Fantasy.
- Contradictory things to wish,' said Bella, 'but my life and fortunes are so contradictory altogether that what can I expect myself to be! Charles Dickens. Our Mutual Friend.
- What contradictory attributes of character we sometimes find ascribed to us, according to the eye with which we are viewed! Charlotte Bronte. Villette.
- Stoical, but contradictory. Charles Dickens. Our Mutual Friend.
- Each one carries along a quantity of inert and outworn ideas,--not infrequently there is an internally contradictory current. Walter Lippmann. A Preface to Politics.
- Among his other contradictory decorations he had the hat of a bishop and the little gloves of a baby. Charles Dickens. Bleak House.
Editor: Spence