contradiction

contradiction

English

Etymology

From Middle English contradiccioun, contradiction, from Old French contradiction, from Latin contrādictiō, from contrādīcō (“speak against”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˌkɒntɹəˈdɪkʃən/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˌkɑːntɹəˈdɪkʃən/
• Rhymes: -ɪkʃən

Noun

contradiction (countable and uncountable, plural contradictions)

1. (countable, uncountable) The act of contradicting.

   His contradiction of the proposal was very interesting.

2. (countable) A statement that contradicts itself, i.e., a statement that claims that the same thing is true and that it is false at the same time and in the same senses of the terms.

   There is a contradiction in Clarence Page's statement that a woman should have the right to choose and decide for herself whether to have an abortion and at the same time she should not have that right.

   There is a contradiction in what you say: she can't be both married and single.

3. (countable) A logical inconsistency among two or more elements or propositions.

   Marx believed that the contradictions of capitalism would lead to socialism.

4. (logic, countable) A proposition that is false for all values of its propositional variables or Boolean atoms.

Synonyms

• (statement that contradicts itself): oxymoron
• (proposition that is false for all values of its variables): ↯, ⇒⇐, ⊥, ↮, ※

Antonyms

• (proposition that is false for all values of its variables): tautology

Coordinate terms

• (proposition that is false for all values of its variables): contingency, tautology

Derived terms

• contradiction in terms
• law of contradiction
• law of non-contradiction
• non-contradiction
• proof by contradiction
• self-contradiction
• sign of contradiction

 

Related terms

• contradict
• contradictory

Translations

act of contradicting

Asturian: contradicción f Bulgarian: отрицание (bg) n (otricanie), противоречие (bg) n (protivorečie) Catalan: contradicció (ca) f Chinese: Mandarin: 反对 (zh) (fǎnduì), 反驳 (zh) (fǎnbó) Danish: modsigelse c Dutch: tegenspraak (nl), contradictie (nl) Finnish: kiistäminen (fi) French: contradiction (fr) f Galician: contradición (gl) f German: Widerspruch (de) m Greek: αντίκρουση (el) f (antíkrousi) Ancient: ἀντιλογία f (antilogía) Hungarian: ellentmondás (hu), ellenkezés (hu) Indonesian: kontradiksi (id) Irish: bréagnú m Italian: contraddizione (it) f Japanese: 矛盾 (ja) (むじゅん, mujun) Korean: 모순 (ko) (mosun) Latin: contrādictiō (la) f, repugnantia f, obloquium, oblocutio Latvian: pretruna f Lithuanian: prieštaravimas (lt) m Macedonian: противречие n (protivrečie), противречење n (protivrečenje) Nepali: विरोधाभास (virodhābhās) Norwegian: Bokmål: motsigelse (no) Occitan: contradiccion f Old English: wiþcwedennes f Portuguese: contradição (pt) f Romanian: contradicție (ro) f, contrazicere (ro) Russian: противоре́чие (ru) n (protivoréčije) Serbo-Croatian: противречје n (protivrečje), противречност f (protivrečnost) Swedish: motsägelse (sv) c

statement that contradicts itself

Asturian: contradicción f Bulgarian: противоречие (bg) n (protivorečie) Catalan: contradicció (ca) f Chinese: Mandarin: 矛盾 (zh) (máodùn) Czech: rozpor (cs) m, spor (cs) m Danish: selvmodsigelse c, paradoks n Finnish: ristiriita (fi) French: contradiction (fr) f Galician: contradición (gl) f German: Widerspruch (de) m Greek: αντίφαση (el) f (antífasi) Hebrew: סתירה‎ (he) f (stirá) Hungarian: ellentmondás (hu), önellentmondás Italian: contraddizione (it) f Japanese: 矛盾 (ja) (むじゅん, mujun) Latin: obloquium, oblocutio Latvian: pretruna f Macedonian: противречие n (protivrečie) Occitan: contradiccion f Old English: wiþcwedennes f Polish: sprzeczność (pl), antynomia (pl) f Portuguese: contradição (pt) f Romanian: contradicție (ro) f Russian: противоре́чие (ru) n (protivoréčije) Spanish: contradicción (es) f, contrasentido Swedish: motsägelse (sv) c, självmotsägelse c Ukrainian: супере́чність f (superéčnistʹ), протирі́ччя n (protyríččja)

the logical incompatibility of opposing elements

Arabic: تَنَاقُضٌ‎ (ar) m (tanāquḍun) Bulgarian: противоречие (bg) n (protivorečie) Chinese: Mandarin: 矛盾 (zh) (máodùn) Finnish: ristiriita (fi) French: contradiction (fr) f German: Gegensatz (de) m, Widerspruch (de) m Greek: αντινομία (el) f (antinomía) Italian: contraddizione (it) f Japanese: 矛盾 (ja) (むじゅん, mujun) Latin: obloquium, oblocutio Macedonian: противречие n (protivrečie) Old English: wiþcwedennes f Polish: sprzeczność (pl) f, antynomia (pl) f Portuguese: contradição (pt) f Romanian: contradicție (ro) f Russian: противоре́чие (ru) n (protivoréčije) Swedish: självmotsägelse c Ukrainian: супере́чність f (superéčnistʹ), протирі́ччя n (protyríččja)

proposition that is false for all values of its variables

Czech: kontradikce (cs) f Finnish: ristiriita (fi) French: contradiction (fr) f Italian: contraddizione (it) Japanese: 恒偽式 (こうぎしき, kōgishiki), 矛盾式 (むじゅんしき, mujun shiki) Latin: obloquium, oblocutio Macedonian: контрадикција f (kontradikcija), противречие n (protivrečie) Polish: sprzeczność (pl) Portuguese: contradição (pt) f Swedish: självmotsägelse c

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French

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin contradictio, contradictionem.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kɔ̃.tʁa.dik.sjɔ̃/

• Audio

  (file)

Noun

contradiction f (plural contradictions)

1. contradiction (clarification of this definition is needed)

Derived terms

• esprit de contradiction

Related terms

• contradictoire
• contredire

Further reading

• “contradiction”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.