pro and con
Forms: 5–7 pro et contra, pro and contra, 7 pro et con, 6– pro and con.
[Abbreviation of L. pro et contra for and against. The and instead of et probably originated as an English reading of the character &.]
A. adv. (and adj.) phr. a. For and against; in favour and in opposition; on both sides. So pro or con.
| 1426 Lydg. De Guil. Pilgr. 5663, I tauhtë folkys to argue Pro & contra, yong & olde. 1480 Caxton Chron. Eng. ccliii, Wherof aroose a grete Altercacion..pro and contra. 1572 R. H. tr. Lavaterus' Ghostes To Rdr. (1596) A ij, The matter throughly handled Pro and Con. 1577 Dee Gen. & Rare Mem. 10 Much..may be here sayd, Pro, et Contra. 1636 Jackson Creed viii. iii. §6, I will not determine pro or con, that [etc.]. 1710 Addison Tatler No. 224 ¶3 The whole Argument pro and con in the Case of the Morning-Gowns. 1819 Byron Let. to Murray 25 Jan., The rest..has never yet affected any human production ‘pro or con’. 1863 Reade Hard Cash xxxvii, I have no objection to collect the evidence pro and con. |
b. attrib. or as adj. Also in form pro-or-con.
| 1715 M. Davies Athen. Brit. I. Pref. 25 Several Pro and Con-Pamphlets. 1964 A. Edel in I. L. Horowitz New Sociol. 236 At what point do we find science passing into an internal influence in having purposes or pro-and-con attitudes? Ibid., The role of social science parameters in having purposes and pro-or-con attitudes can best be grasped by focusing on the very concepts of having a purpose and holding an attitude. |
B. n. phr. (now usu. in pl., pros and cons.) Reasons for and against; reasonings, arguments, statements, or votes on both sides of a question. (In quot. 1809, favourable and adverse fortunes.)
| [c 1400, 1509: see pro B. 1.] 1589 R. Harvey Pl. Perc. 20 Such a quoile about pro and con, such vrging of Ergoes. 1591 Troub. Raigne K. John i. 405 Why stand I to expostulate the crime With pro & contra? 1640 Brome Antip. iii. iv, The pro's and contras in the windings, workings And carriage of the cause. 1704 Swift T. Tub i. §24 A Quill worn to the Pith in the Service of the State, in Pro's and Con's upon Popish Plots. 1713 Humble Plead. for Gd. Old Way 259 Seeing the pros and cons did run equal so that the determination depended on the moderator's casting vote. 1809 Malkin Gil Blas vii. vi. ¶14 A..true narrative of all my pros and cons, my ins and outs, since that..separation of ours. 1880 Huxley in Life (1900) II. ii. 21, I felt justified in stating all the pros and cons of the case. 1923 Galsworthy Captures 59 The house rocked with pro and con. |
C. as v. To weigh the arguments for and against; to debate both sides of a question.
| 1694 Congreve Double-Dealer Ded., When a man in soliloquy reasons with himself, and pro's and con's, and weighs all his designs, we ought not to imagine that this man either talks to us or to himself. 1762 Sterne Tr. Shandy VI. xvi, My father's resolution of putting me into breeches..had..been pro'd and con'd, and judicially talked over betwixt him and my mother about a month before. 1818 Keats Lett. Wks. 1889 III. 158 The topic was the Duke of Wellington—very amusingly pro-and-con'd. 1835 Southey Doctor cv. III. 324 He was no shillishallier, nor ever wasted a precious minute in pro-and-conning. |
D. Used as prep. phr.
| 1895 W. Stevens Let. 4 Aug. (1967) 6 Nor have I any suggestions pro and con anything in particular. |