Meanings
- conjunctiveOpposite of what had earlier been expected or assumed; to the contrary.
Many persons have an idea that a habitually dark room is best for the eyes. On the contrary, it weakens them and renders them permanently unable to bear the light of the sun.
1876, Eliza Bisbee Duffey, Our Behaviour: A Manual of Etiquette and Dress of the Best American Society, Philadelphia1 more example
Even if they managed to strike Japan, the United States or South Korea with nuclear weapons — a big if, given that they do not have a reliable delivery system — they could not save themselves from ultimate defeat. On the contrary, the use of nuclear or other terror weapons would be certain to invite overwhelming retaliation, delivering North Korea’s decision makers to a fiery oblivion.
2013 April 9, Andrei Lankov, “Stay Cool. Call North Korea’s Bluff.”, in New York TimesSynonyms: au contraire, if anything, far from it, per contra, contrariwise
Synonyms & antonyms
prepositional phraseOpposite of what had earlier been expected or assumed; to the contrary.
More synonyms by meaning
adverbcontrary to expectations
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Translations
Afrikaans inteendeel
- inteendeelopposite
Ancient Greek τοὐναντίον
- τοὐναντίον (tounantíon)opposite
Arabic عَلَى الْعَكْس, بِالْعَكْس
- عَلَى الْعَكْس (ʕalā l-ʕaks)opposite
- بِالْعَكْس (bi-l-ʕaks)opposite
Bengali অন্য দিকে
- অন্য দিকেopposite
Bulgarian напро́тив
- напро́тив (naprótiv)opposite
Catalan contràriament, al contrari
- contràriamentopposite
- al contrariopposite
- per contraopposite
Chinese Mandarin 反而, 相反
- 反而 (fǎn'ér)opposite
- 相反 (xiāngfǎn)opposite
- 反之 (fǎnzhī)opposite
- 與此相反 /与此相反 (yǔcǐxiāngfǎn)opposite
Czech naopak
- naopakopposite
Danish tværtimod
- tværtimodopposite
Dutch integendeel
- integendeelopposite
Esperanto kontraŭe
- kontraŭeopposite
Finnish päinvastoin, kun taas
- päinvastoinopposite
- kun taasopposite
- pikemminkinopposite
- toisinopposite
- sitä vastoinopposite
French au contraire
- au contraireopposite
German im Gegenteil
- im Gegenteilopposite
Greek αντίθετα
- αντίθετα (antítheta)opposite
Hebrew אִיפְּכָא מִסְתַּבְּרָא, אַדְּרַבָּה
- אִיפְּכָא מִסְתַּבְּרָא (ípkha mistábra)opposite
- אַדְּרַבָּה (adrabá)opposite
- נַהֲפוֹךְ הוּא (nahafókh hú)opposite
- לְהֶפֶךְ (lehéfkh)opposite
Hungarian ellenkezőleg
- ellenkezőlegopposite
Icelandic þvert á móti
- þvert á mótiopposite
Italian al contrario, anzi
- al contrarioopposite
- anziopposite
Japanese それどころか
- それどころか (soredokoroka)opposite
Korean 오히려
- 오히려 (ohiryeo)opposite
Latin immō, contrāriō
- immōopposite
- contrāriōopposite
- ē contrāriōopposite
Māori kāhore, ehara
- kāhoreopposite
- eharaopposite
- ehara tonuopposite
- engariopposite
Norwegian Bokmål tvert om, tvert imot
- tvert omopposite
- tvert imotopposite
Polish przeciwnie, wręcz przeciwnie
- przeciwnieopposite
- wręcz przeciwnieopposite
Portuguese ao contrário, pelo contrário
- ao contrárioopposite
- pelo contrárioopposite
Romanian dimpotrivă, din contră
- dimpotrivăopposite
- din contrăopposite
Russian наоборо́т, напро́тив
- наоборо́т (naoborót)opposite
- напро́тив (naprótiv)opposite
Slovak naopak
- naopakopposite
Spanish al contrario, por el contrario
- al contrarioopposite
- por el contrarioopposite
- a la inversaopposite
- por la inversaopposite
- a contrarrutaopposite
Swedish tvärtom
- tvärtomopposite
Thai ในทางกลับกัน
- ในทางกลับกันopposite
Ukrainian навпаки́
- навпаки́ (navpaký)opposite
Urdu اس کے برخلاف
- اس کے برخلاف (īs key barḵelāf)opposite
Yiddish אַדרבא, להיפּוך
- אַדרבא (aderabe)opposite
- להיפּוך (leheypekh)opposite
- פֿאַרקערט (farkert)opposite
- פּונקט פֿאַרקערט (punkt farkert)opposite
Cite this entry
on the contrary. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/on%20the%20contrary
“on the contrary.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/on%20the%20contrary. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “on the contrary,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/on%20the%20contrary.
Source: on the contrary on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.