contradictory, a. and n.
(kɒntrəˈdɪktərɪ)
[ad. L. contrādictōri-us, f. contrādictōr-em contradictor: see -ory. Cf. F. contradictoire (14th c., Oresme).]
A. adj.
1. Logic and gen. Having the quality or character of contradicting; denying that a thing stated is completely true.
contradictory opposition (in Logic): the opposition between two contradictory propositions, i.e. such as differ from each other both in quantity and quality (e.g. all A is B: some A is not B); both of which cannot, and one of which must, be true. contradictory terms: those of the type ‘A and not-A’: see quot. 1887 in b.
| 1605 Bacon Adv. Learn. i. ii. §3 It is almost without instance contradictorie, that euer any gouernement was disastrous, that was in the hands of learned Gouernors. 1628 T. Spencer Logick 297 The assumption in this argument is Contradictory to the latter part of the proposition..In the like sort, the Conclusion is contradictory to the first part of the proposition. 1698 Norris Pract. Disc. (1707) IV. 229 To make an objection good, it must not only be a Truth, but a contradictory Truth. 1865 Trollope Belton Est. ix. 94 Two answers which were altogether distinct, and contradictory one of the other. 1887 Fowler Deduct. Logic 79 It is a rule of practical Logic that a contradictory should always in disputations be used in preference to a contrary opposition. |
b. Logic and gen. Mutually opposed or inconsistent; that contradict or are at variance with each other.
| 1534 More Answ. Poisoned Bk. Wks. 1109/2 Be these two proposicions so sore repugnant and so playn contradictory? 1599 Blundevil Arte Logicke iii. iii. 64 Contradictorie Propositions..can neither be true nor false both at once; for if one be true, the other must needes be false. 1646 Sir T. Browne Pseud. Ep. i. x. 43 Deluding us into contradictory and inconsistent falsities. 1709 Steele Tatler No. 65 ¶1 If we sit down satisfy'd with such contradictory Accounts. 1860 Westcott Introd. Study Gosp. v. (ed. 5) 284 Histories..not contradictory but complementary. 1876 Jevons Elem. Logic (1880) 76 A and O are contradictory propositions, whereas A and E are called contrary propositions. 1887 Fowler Deduct. Logic 83 ‘Contradictory Terms’, such as white and not-white..are terms which admit of no medium, i.e. terms which are not both predicable of the same thing, while one or other of them must be predicable of it. |
c. Inconsistent in itself; containing elements opposed to each other.
| 1868 Freeman Norm. Conq. (1876) II. viii. 213 The character which he left behind him was a singularly contradictory one. 1871 Morley Voltaire (1886) 3 Contradictory attributes of unjust justice and loving vindictiveness. |
2. Of opposite character, tendency, or effect; diametrically opposed, contrary.
| 1736 Butler Anal. i. iii. 78 There is nothing in the human mind contradictory, as the logicians speak, to virtue. 1794 Sullivan View Nat. II, A remarkable phænomenon..contradictory to what is generally observed of the fossils of the two kingdoms. |
3. Given to contradiction: contradictious.
| 1891 K. S. Macquoid in Illust. Lond. News 12 Sept. 348/1 Von Scheffel had gone downstairs in a ruffled, contradictory mood. |
4. as adv.
| 1746 Eliza Heywood Female Spect. (1748) IV. 286 Many gentlemen..behave so manifestly contradictory to both. |
B. n.
1. A contradictory proposition, assertion, or principle; spec. in Logic: see A. 1.
| c 1400 Test. Love ii. (1560) 292/2 The contradictory that is necessarie needes must I leve. a 1556 Cranmer Wks. I. 15 You shall never be good logician, that would set together two contradictories: for that, the schoolmen say, God cannot do. 1619 R. Jones in Phenix (1708) II. 481, I lay down three plain Contradictorys to the words of the Text, as they lie in order. First, The Disciples came not hither by Night. Secondly, He was not stole away. Thirdly, The Soldiers were not asleep. 1628 T. Spencer Logick 97 Contradictories, are negatiue Contraries, the one whereof denieth every where, or generally. 1864 Bowen Logic 163 Contradictories cannot both be true, and cannot both be false. 1890 H. W. Watkins Bampton Lect. 6 Now contraries may both be wrong, and of contradictories one cannot be right. |
2. The opposite, the contrary.
| 1840 Arnold in Stanley Life & Corr. (1844) II. App. 418 A place the very contradictory..of the hill Difficulty, and of the house Beautiful, and of the Land of Beulah. 1874 Pusey Lent. Serm. 285 Since sloth is a deadly sin, it is a great thing that its contradictory, activity, is nature to us. |