contrariety

plural contrarieties · alternative obsolete contrarietie

1. countableuncountableOpposition or contrariness; cross-purposes, marked contrast.

   This contrariety of humours betwixt my father and my uncle, was the source of many a fraternal squabble.

   1759–1767, [Laurence Sterne], The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman, volume (please specify |volume=I to IX), London: […] T. Becket and P. A. Dehondt, […]

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   What differences of sense and reason, what contrarietie of imaginations doth the diversitie of our passions present unto us?

   1603, Michel de Montaigne, chapter XII, in John Florio, transl., The Essayes […], book II, London: […] Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], →OCLC

   Thy ſenate is a ſcene of civil jar, / Chaos of contrarieties at vvar, / VVhere ſharp and ſolid, phlegmatic and light, / Diſcordant atoms meet, ferment and fight, […]

   1781 (date written), William Cowper, “Expostulation”, in Poems, London: […] J[oseph] Johnson, […], published 1782, →OCLC, page 118

   The contrariety of views and designs, the concertative, dilatory conferences of a numerous assembly (rent and divided as such assemblies are ever found to be), render it expedient that the prerogative of commencing war be confided to the advised discretion of the executory power.

   1800, James Sedgwick, Remarks, Critical and Miscellaneous, on the Commentaries of Sir William Blackstone, page 171

   Yet however within my reach, however tempting they may appear, when I think upon the contrarieties, the restraints, the uncertainties that in this sublunary temporary sojourn would interpose their bane, the scene appears joyless, and I fly, rejoicing fly, to rest my hopes, faith, confidence on that base which is immutable, never-changing, never-ending; in a word, I fly to repose myself on the bosom of my God.

   1838, [Letitia Elizabeth] Landon (indicated as editor), chapter XIII, in Duty and Inclination: […], volume II, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, page 192

   The wind blowing steady and gentle from the south, there was no contrariety between that and the current, and the billows rose and fell unbroken.

   1881–1882, Robert Louis Stevenson, Treasure Island, London; Paris: Cassell & Company, published 14 November 1883, →OCLC