Meanings
- not comparableContaining multiple claims or ideas that are inherently in disagreement; of something or someone that contradicts itself.
The statement “We agree to disagree on everything” is self-contradictory.
Antonyms: self-consistent
Synonyms & antonyms
adjectiveContaining multiple claims or ideas that are inherently in disagreement; of something or someone that contradicts itself.
More synonyms by meaning
adjectiveseemingly contradictory but nonetheless possibly true
adjectivein disagreement
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Proto-Indo-European*swé?
- Proto-Indo-European*selbʰ-
- Proto-Germanic*selbaz
- Old Englishself
- Old Englishself-
- Middle Englishself-
- Englishself-
- Englishcontradictory
- Englishself-contradictory
From self- + contradictory.
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Bulgarian вътрешно противоречив
- вътрешно противоречив (vătrešno protivorečiv)statements that contradict themselves
Chinese Mandarin 自相矛盾
- 自相矛盾 (zìxiāngmáodùn)statements that contradict themselves
Finnish sisäisesti ristiriitainen
- sisäisesti ristiriitainenstatements that contradict themselves
French contradictoire, qui se contredit
- contradictoirestatements that contradict themselves
- qui se contreditstatements that contradict themselves
German selbstwidersprüchlich, in sich selbst widersprüchlich
- selbstwidersprüchlichstatements that contradict themselves
- in sich selbst widersprüchlichstatements that contradict themselves
Hungarian önellentmondó
- önellentmondóstatements that contradict themselves
Japanese 自己撞着の, 自己矛盾した
- 自己撞着の (jiko dōchaku no)statements that contradict themselves
- 自己矛盾した (jiko mujun shita)statements that contradict themselves
Norwegian Bokmål selvmotsigende
- selvmotsigendestatements that contradict themselves
Polish wewnętrznie sprzeczny
- wewnętrznie sprzecznystatements that contradict themselves
Romanian autocontradictoriu
- autocontradictoriustatements that contradict themselves
Swedish självmotsägande
- självmotsägandestatements that contradict themselves
Cite this entry
self-contradictory. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/self-contradictory
“self-contradictory.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/self-contradictory. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “self-contradictory,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/self-contradictory.
Source: self-contradictory on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.