au contraire

au contraire

English

Etymology

Borrowed from French au contraire.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /əʊ ˈkɒntɹɛː(ɹ)/
• (US) IPA^(key): /oʊ ˌkoʊnˈtɹɛ(ə)ɹ/

Adverb

au contraire (not comparable)

1. (usually humorous, emphatic) on the contrary
   • 1997, Mike Myers, Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery:

     Fembots: (one by one) You can't resist us, Mr. Powers. / Austin Powers: Au contraire, baby. I think that you can't resist me.

   You think I want to go to this thing? Au contraire, mon frère!

Usage notes

Used for more humorous, ironic, or dramatic effect than on the contrary.[1]

Translations

on the contrary — See also translations at on the contrary

Bulgarian: напротив (bg) (naprotiv) Czech: právě naopak Dutch: integendeel (nl) Estonian: hoopis vastupidi, vastupidi Finnish: vaan (fi), päinvastoin (fi) French: au contraire (fr) German: im Gegenteil, au contraire (de) Greek: τουναντίον (el) (tounantíon), αντίθετα (el) (antítheta) Haitian Creole: okontrè Hebrew: להיפך‎ Hindi: उल्टे (ulṭe) Icelandic: þvert á móti, á hinn bóginn, hins vegar Italian: al contrario Kurdish: Northern Kurdish: berevajî (ku), tersî (ku), dijraberî (ku) Latin: sed contra Occitan: au contra, au contrari, al revèrs Polish: przeciwnie (pl) Portuguese: ao contrário, pelo contrário Russian: наоборо́т (ru) (naoborót) Spanish: en contrario, por el contrario, en contra, al contrario Swedish: tvärtom (sv) Tagalog: bagkus (tl) Ukrainian: навпаки (uk) (navpaky) Walloon: e l' plaece (wa), el plaece (wa), estô (wa)

References

1. “A.Word.A.Day--au contraire”, in wordsmith.org‎, (please provide a date or year)

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French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /o kɔ̃.tʁɛːʁ/[1]
• (Quebec) IPA^(key): /o kõ.tʁaɛ̯ʁ/

• Audio

  (file)

• Audio (CAN)

  (file)

Adverb

au contraire

1. on the contrary, quite the contrary, quite the opposite; au contraire

Usage notes

May be reinforced by bien or tout, i.e., bien au contraire or tout au contraire [1][2]

Related terms

• au contraire de

References

1. “contraire”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
2. “contraire” in Dictionnaire Français en ligne Larousse.