Meanings
comparative more counterintuitive · superlative most counterintuitive · alternative counter-intuitive
- Contrary to intuition or common sense.
With the students who worked on drafts in class, a number of aspects of lexicography proved challenging and counterintuitive.
2015, James Lambert, “Lexicography as a teaching tool: A Hong Kong case study”, in Lan Li, Jamie McKeown, Liming Liu, editors, Dictionaries and corpora: Innovations in reference science. Proceedings of ASIALEX 2015 Hong Kong, Hong Kong: The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, page 146
Synonyms & antonyms
adjectivecontrary to what common sense would suggest
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
From counter- + intuitive. Coined by Noam Chomsky in 1955 as “counter-intuitive”.
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Chinese Mandarin 反常識 /反常识, 反直覺 /反直觉
- 反常識 /反常识contrary to intuition or common sense
- 反直覺 /反直觉contrary to intuition or common sense
Danish kontraintuitiv
- kontraintuitivcontrary to intuition or common sense
Dutch contra-intuïtief
- contra-intuïtiefcontrary to intuition or common sense
Estonian intuitsiooniga vastuolus
- intuitsiooniga vastuoluscontrary to intuition or common sense
Finnish vaistonvastainen, intuitionvastainen
- vaistonvastainencontrary to intuition or common sense
- intuitionvastainencontrary to intuition or common sense
- järjenvastainencontrary to intuition or common sense
- epäintuitiivinencontrary to intuition or common sense
French contre-intuitif
- contre-intuitifcontrary to intuition or common sense
German kontraintuitiv
- kontraintuitivcontrary to intuition or common sense
Greek αντιδιαισθητικός
- αντιδιαισθητικός (antidiaisthitikós)contrary to intuition or common sense
Polish sprzeczny z intuicją
- sprzeczny z intuicjącontrary to intuition or common sense
Portuguese contraintuitivo
- contraintuitivocontrary to intuition or common sense
Romanian contraintuitiv
- contraintuitivcontrary to intuition or common sense
Russian контринтуити́вный
- контринтуити́вный (kontrintuitívnyj)contrary to intuition or common sense
Spanish contraintuitivo
- contraintuitivocontrary to intuition or common sense
Ukrainian контр-інтуїти́вний
- контр-інтуїти́вний (kontr-intujitývnyj)contrary to intuition or common sense
Cite this entry
counterintuitive. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/counterintuitive
“counterintuitive.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/counterintuitive. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “counterintuitive,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/counterintuitive.
Source: counterintuitive on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.