contrarian

plural contrarians

1. A person who likes or tends to express a contradicting viewpoint, especially from one held by a majority of people, usually because of nonconformity or spite.First known use mid 20th c.

   Hello, he lied / Like velvet, this magician's sleight of tongue and hand / Hello, he lied / Beware, belie his smile / As warm and calculated as heroin / Beware the contrarian

   2018, “The Contrarian”, in Maynard James Keenan (lyrics), Billy Howerdel (music), Eat the Elephant, performed by A Perfect Circle, Track 3

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   Christopher [Hitchens] is bored by the epithet contrarian, which has been trailing him around for a quarter of a century. What he is, in any case, is an autocontrarian: he seeks not just the most difficult position, but the most difficult position for Christopher Hitchens.

   2011 April 28, Martin Amis, “Amis on Hitchens: ‘He’s one of the most terrifying rhetoricians the world has seen’”, in The Observer, London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC; republished as “Foreword”, in Windsor Mann, editor, The Quotable Hitchens: From Alcohol to Zionism: The Very Best of Christopher Hitchens, Cambridge, Mass.: Da Capo Press, 2011, →ISBN, page x

   [Søren] Kierkegaard had no university career, and [Friedrich] Nietzsche was a professor of Greek and Roman philology who had to retire because of ill health. Both were individualists, and both were contrarians by nature, dedicated to making people uncomfortable.

   2016, Sarah Bakewell, “Sir, What a Horror, Existentialism!”, in At the Existentialist Café: Freedom, Being, and Apricot Cocktails […], Toronto, Ont.: Alfred A[braham] Knopf Canada, →ISBN, page 17

   Antonyms: slipstreamer

2. businessA financial investor who tends to have an opinion of market trends at variance with most others.

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   [T]o succeed as a contrarian, you have to be able to time trades in exactly the opposite direction of the majority. This means you have to move in when everyone else is fearful, and step back when everyone else is euphoric. This advice is easier to give than to follow, so contrarians are not just good at timing. They also are highly disciplined and able to set and follow rules for themselves that fly in the face of what the majority thinks.

   2010, Michael C. Thomsett, “The Contrarian Approach to Trading”, in Getting Started in Stock Investing and Trading (Getting Started in …; 89), Hoboken, N.J.: John Wiley & Sons, →ISBN, part III (Combining Investing and Trading), page 174

comparative more contrarian · superlative most contrarian

1. Liking or tending to express a contradicting viewpoint, especially from one held by a majority of people.First known use late 20th c.

   I began with the problem that I did not have enough confidence in what I had to say. Then I discovered that there could never be a single "I" who could speak for me, I could only communicate an aspect of myself: sometimes more friendly, sometimes more contrarian.

   2013, Phillip Lopate, “Modesty and Assertion”, in To Show and to Tell: The Craft of Literary Nonfiction, New York, N.Y.: Free Press, →ISBN

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   The second part [of the book] explores the normative forms of adolescent resistance and contrarian behavior that vex parents and teachers alike. This discussion is within the context of chapters that look at the ways in which parenting and teaching for moral development can positively make use of these normative challenges.

   2005, Larry [P.] Nucci, “Preface”, in Larry Nucci, editor, Conflict, Contradiction, and Contrarian Elements in Moral Development and Education, Mahwah, N.J.: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, →ISBN, page viii

2. businessHaving an opinion of market trends at variance with most others.

   Yet at the same time, 401(k) traders became more contrarian in their response to falling markets during the crisis. Therefore, the increased sensitivity to market volatility was offset, in part, by a tendency to 'buy on the dips' in response to falling markets.

   2012, Ning Tang, Olivia S. Mitchell, Stephen P. Utkus, “Trading in 401(k) Plans during the Financial Crisis”, in Raimond Maurer, Olivia S. Mitchell, Mark J. Warshawsky, editors, Reshaping Retirement Security: Lessons from the Global Financial Crisis, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, →ISBN, part II (Rethinking the Resilience of Defined Contribution Plans), page 115