contradiction

UK/ˌkɒntɹəˈdɪkʃən/US/ˌkɑːntɹəˈdɪkʃən/

nounB2+3 meanings Common in everyday speech and writing · #6,920 of 15,258neutral

Other forms: contradictions

A contradiction is two things said that cannot both be true. The sign on the door says the shop opens at nine; the website says ten. One of them has to be wrong, and that gap between them is the contradiction.

The word also names the act of saying the opposite of what someone has just said: he took the whole accusation without a word of contradiction. People get called contradictions too, when their parts do not fit - a doctor who smokes. It takes IN or BETWEEN: a contradiction in the evidence, a contradiction between the two accounts. There is one fixed phrase worth learning, a contradiction in terms, for a description that cancels itself out, like a round square. Careful with the everyday sense: a contradiction is not the same as a disagreement. Two people can disagree without either of them contradicting anything.

Definitions of contradiction

1nouncontradictionA combination of statements or facts that cannot all be true at the same time.B2+~90%
“There is a contradiction between what the manual says and what the machine actually does.”
synonyms: inconsistency
2noundenialThe act of saying that what someone has said is wrong.B2~8%
“He listened to the whole speech without a murmur of contradiction.”
synonyms: denial, objection
3nouncontainsA person or thing that contains opposing qualities.B2~2%
“She is a walking contradiction: a vegetarian who works in a butcher's shop.”

Shares are an estimate: a language model read 13 sentences found in the wild and placed 13 of them on a sense — a count of our sample, not a measurement of English.

contradiction is a clash between statements.

Phrases it lives in

a contradiction in terms — a description that cancels itself out, like 'a silent shout'

Where it comes from

Contradiction reached English through Old French from Latin contradictio, the noun formed on contradico - 'to speak against'. Speaking against is still the heart of it: one statement standing up and denying another.

Latin
contrādictiō
Old French
contradiction
Middle English
contradiccioun
English, today
contradiction

Built from

contrādīcō · Latin — speak against

From Middle English contradiccioun, contradiction, from Old French contradiction, from Latin contrādictiō, from contrādīcō (“speak against”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practised in Big Ideas, Logic & Argument

Practise this word

contradiction in the wild

In philosophy, an antinomy is a real or apparent contradiction between two conclusions, both of which seem justified.
Antinomy
Assume that "this sentence is false" is true, then we can trust its content, which states the opposite and thus causes a contradiction.
Liar paradox
Similarly, we get a contradiction when we assume the opposite.
Liar paradox
A general meaning of "contradiction in terms" is recorded by the 1902 edition of the Oxford English Dictionary.
Oxymoron
Around the turn of the 20th century, the discovery of contradictions such as Russell's paradox at the foundations of mathematics thus threatened the entire structure of mathematics.
Principle of explosion

1 / 3

From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.

Related words

the contrādīcō family

contradiction contradict

contradiction — used about once every 2,254 pages · #6,920 · point at the bar for the others

Definitions of contradiction

1nouncontradictionA combination of statements or facts that cannot all be true at the same time.B2+~90%

“There is a contradiction between what the manual says and what the machine actually does.”

synonyms: inconsistency

2noundenialThe act of saying that what someone has said is wrong.B2~8%

“He listened to the whole speech without a murmur of contradiction.”

synonyms: denial, objection

3nouncontainsA person or thing that contains opposing qualities.B2~2%

“She is a walking contradiction: a vegetarian who works in a butcher's shop.”

Shares are an estimate: a language model read 13 sentences found in the wild and placed 13 of them on a sense — a count of our sample, not a measurement of English.

contradiction is a clash between statements.