Contradictory means saying two things that cannot both be true. Contradictory evidence, a contradictory account, flatly contradictory.
It is stronger than inconsistent, which merely means the parts do not sit well together. Contradictory accounts from witnesses are normal rather than suspicious, since memory reconstructs rather than replays, and identical accounts are the ones police distrust.
1adjectivecontradictorySaying two things that cannot both be true.
“My parents gave me contradictory advice: one said I should stay, the other said go.”
contradictory is a quality.
Latin contradictorius comes from contradicere, to speak against — contra plus dicere, to say.
Latin
contradictorius
English, today
contradictory
Borrowed from Latin contradictorius, from Latin contradico. Equivalent to contradict + ory.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA