Definition of: contrary

(kon′trer·ē; for adjective def. 4, also kən·trâ-r′ē) adjective
1. Opposed in situation, direction, aim, purpose, or operation; antagonistic.
2. Adverse: contrary winds.
3. Opposite; opposing.
4. Characterized or swayed by perversity; inclined to opposition or contradiction; captious.
—noun plural ·trar·ies
1. One of two opposing things.
2. The opposite.
3. Logic A statement whose truth is undetermined by the falsity of another, but which cannot be true if the latter is true: “The man is a perjurer” is the contrary of “The man is honest.”
—by contraries By way of opposition to anticipated procedure.
—on the contrary Contrariwise; on the other hand.
—to the contrary To the opposite effect.
—adverb In a contrary manner; contrariwise. [<AF contrarie <L contrarius <contra against]
—con′trar·i·ly adverb
—con′trar·i·ness noun Synonyms (adj.): antagonistic, conflicting, contradictory, contrasted, different, discordant, dissimilar, incompatible, incongruous, inconsistent, opposed, opposite, unlike. Things are contradictory which mutually exclude each other, so that both cannot exist in the same object at the same time, as life and death. Things are contrary when the highest degree of both cannot exist in the same object at the same time, but where a middle term is possible, partaking of the qualities of both, as wisdom and folly, or heat and cold. See ALIEN, INCONGRUOUS, INIMICAL, PERVERSE.