contrarianism

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noun

A pattern of stubbornly adopting contrary, nonconforming viewpoints; the beliefs and practices of a contrarian.

OriginEnglish contrarian →
Scrabble 17
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Meanings

nouncontrarianism (countable and uncountable, plural contrarianisms)

plural contrarianisms

  1. countableuncountableA pattern of stubbornly adopting contrary, nonconforming viewpoints; the beliefs and practices of a contrarian.
    1 more example

    Kelly, who specialised in implacable unreason about climate change before his conversion to stubborn contrarianism about various Covid remedies – contrarianism at odds with the views of designated experts including Australia’s chief medical officer – speaks to a constituency the Coalition wants to court: a group of voters tempted to vote for rightwing protest parties rather than the Liberals and the Nationals.

    2021 February 2, Katharine Murphy, “Scott Morrison must heed the lesson of Donald Trump and slap down Craig Kelly”, in The Guardian, archived from the original on 03 Jun 2023

Synonyms & antonyms

Also see
againstism

Origin

  1. Englishcontrary
  2. Englishlibertarianinflu.
  3. Englishcontrarian
  4. Englishcontrarianism

From contrarian + -ism.

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

contrarianism. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/contrarianism

MLA

“contrarianism.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/contrarianism. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “contrarianism,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/contrarianism.

Source: contrarianism on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.