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Webster 1913 Edition

Contradiction

Conˊtra-dic′tion

,
Noun.
[L.
contradictio
answer, objection: cf. F.
contradiction
.]
1.
An assertion of the contrary to what has been said or affirmed; denial of the truth of a statement or assertion; contrary declaration; gainsaying.
His fair demands
Shall be accomplished without
contradiction
.
Shakespeare
2.
Direct opposition or repugnancy; inconsistency; incongruity or contrariety; one who, or that which, is inconsistent.
can he make deathless death? That were to make
Strange
contradiction
.
Milton.
We state our experience and then we come to a manly resolution of acting in
contradiction
to it.
Burke.
Both parts of a
contradiction
can not possibly be true.
Hobbes.
Of
contradictions
infinite the slave.
Wordsworth.
Principle of contradiction
(Logic)
,
the axiom or law of thought that a thing cannot be and not be at the same time, or a thing must either be or not be, or the same attribute can not at the same time be affirmed and and denied of the same subject; also called the
law of the excluded middle
.
It develops itself in three specific forms which have been called the “Three Logical Axioms.” First, “A is A.” Second, “A is not Not-A” Third, “Everything is either A or Not-A.”

Webster 1828 Edition

Contradiction

CONTRADICTION

,
Noun.
[L.]
1.
An assertion of the contrary to what has been said or affirmed; denial; contrary declaration.
2.
Opposition, whether by words, reproaches or attempts to defeat.
Consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself. Hebrews 12.
3.
Direct opposition or repugnancy; inconsistency with itself; incongruity or contrariety of things, words, thoughts or propositions. These theorems involve a contradiction.
If we perceive truth, we thereby perceive whatever is false in contradiction to it.

Definition 2024

contradiction

contradiction

English

Noun

contradiction ‎(countable and uncountable, plural contradictions)

  1. (uncountable) The act of contradicting.
    His contradiction of the proposal was very interesting.
  2. (countable) A statement that contradicts itself, i.e., a statement that makes a claim that the same thing is true and that it is false at the same time and in the same senses of the terms.
    There is a contradiction in Clarence Page's statement that a woman should have the right to choose and decide for herself whether to have an abortion, and at the same time she should not have that right.
    There is a contradiction in what you say - she can't be both married and single.
  3. (countable) a logical incompatibility among two or more elements or propositions
    Marx believed that the contradictions of capitalism would lead to socialism.
  4. (logic, countable) A proposition that is false for all values of its variables.

Synonyms

Antonyms

  • (proposition that is false for all values of its variables): tautology

Coordinate terms

Related terms

Translations

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin contradictio.

Noun

contradiction f ‎(plural contradictions)

  1. contradiction

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

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