Meanings
- archaicnot comparablelawin contrast, on the contrary
[…]Per contra, Hobbes, who was no tyrannophobe, declared instead that political citizens were as a God to one another, while non-political men were to one another as arrant wolves (II, h).
1934, John Laird, Hobbes, page 661 more example
Lord Oxford has been a twelvemonth in Herefordshire, as far from us, literally, though not geographically, as if he had been with you in Ireland. He has writ no more to us, than if we were still ministers of state. But, in the balance of account, per contra, I have lord Harley at London; and have either lived with him at Wimple, or upon him here, ever since his father left us.
1720 May 4, Matthew Prior, letter to Jonathan Swift
Synonyms & antonyms
Origin
- ['la',
- Latinper contra
- Englishper contra
Borrowed from Latin per contra.
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
per contra. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/per%20contra
“per contra.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/per%20contra. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “per contra,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/per%20contra.
Source: per contra on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.