a. and sb. [ad. L. contrādictōri-us, f. contrādictōr-em CONTRADICTOR: see -ORY. Cf. F. contradictoire (14th c., Oresme).] A. adj.
1. Logic and gen. Having the quality or character of contradicting; denying that a thing stated is completely true.
Contradictory Opposition (in Logic): the opposition between two Contradictory Propositions, i.e., such as differ from each other both in quantity and quality (e.g., All A is B: Some A is not B); both of which cannot, and one of which must, be true. Contradictory terms: those of the type ‘A and not-A’: see quot. 1887 in b.
1605. Bacon, Adv. Learn., I. ii. § 3. It is almost without instance contradictorie, that euer any gouernement was disastrous, that was in the hands of learned Gouernors.
1628. T. Spencer, Logick, 297. The assumption in this argument is Contradictory to the latter part of the proposition … In the like sort, the Conclusion is contradictory to the first part of the proposition.
1698. Norris, Pract. Disc. (1707), IV. 229. To make an objection good, it must not only be a Truth, but a contradictory Truth.
1865. Trollope, Belton Est., ix. 94. Two answers which were altogether distinct, and contradictory one of the other.
1887. Fowler, Deduct. Logic, 79. It is a rule of practical Logic that a contradictory should always in disputations be used in preference to a contrary opposition.
b. Logic and gen. Mutually opposed or inconsistent; that contradict or are at variance with each other.
1534. More, Answ. Poisoned Bk., Wks. 1109/2. Be these two proposicions so sore repugnant and so playn contradictory?
1599. Blundevil, Arte Logicke, III. iii. 64. Contradictorie Propositions … can neither be true nor false both at once; for if one be true, the other must needes be false.
1646. Sir T. Browne, Pseud. Ep., I. x. 43. Deluding us into contradictory and inconsistent falsities.
1709. Steele, Tatler, No. 65, ¶ 1. If we sit down satisfy’d with such contradictory Accounts.
1860. Westcott, Introd. Study Gosp., v. (ed. 5), 284. Histories … not contradictory but complementary.
1876. Jevons, Elem. Logic (1880), 76. A and O are contradictory propositions, whereas A and E are called contrary propositions.
1887. Fowler, Deduct. Logic, 83. ‘Contradictory Terms,’ such as white and not-white … are terms which admit of no medium, i. e. terms which are not both predicable of the same thing, while one or other of them must be predicable of it.
c. Inconsistent in itself; containing elements opposed to each other.
1868. Freeman, Norm. Conq. (1876), II. viii. 213. The character which he left behind him was a singularly contradictory one.
1871. Morley, Voltaire (1886), 3. Contradictory attributes of unjust justice and loving vindictiveness.
2. Of opposite character, tendency, or effect; diametrically opposed, contrary.
1736. Butler, Anal., I. iii. 78. There is nothing in the human mind contradictory, as the logicians speak, to virtue.
1794. Sullivan, View Nat., II. A remarkable phænomenon … contradictory to what is generally observed of the fossils of the two kingdoms.
3. Given to contradiction; contradictious.
1891. Miss K. S. Macquoid, in Illust. Lond. News, 12 Sept., 348/1. Von Scheffel had gone downstairs in a ruffled, contradictory mood.
4. as adv.
1746. Eliza Heywood, Female Spect. (1748), IV. 286. Many gentlemen … behave so manifestly contradictory to both.
B. sb.
1. A contradictory proposition, assertion, or principle; spec. in Logic: see A. 1.
c. 1400. Test. Love, II. (1560), 292/2. The contradictory that is necessarie needes must I leve.
a. 1556. Cranmer, Wks., I. 15. You shall never be good logician, that would set together two contradictories: for that, the schoolmen say, God cannot do.
1619. R. Jones, in Phenix (1708), II. 481. I lay down three plain Contradictorys to the words of the Text, as they lie in order. First, The Disciples came not hither by Night. Secondly, He was not stole away. Thirdly, The Soldiers were not asleep.
1628. T. Spencer, Logick, 97. Contradictories, are negatiue Contraries, the one whereof denieth every where, or generally.
1864. Bowen, Logic, 163. Contradictories cannot both be true, and cannot both be false.
1890. H. W. Watkins, Bampton Lect., 6. Now contraries may both be wrong, and of contradictories one cannot be right.
2. The opposite, the contrary.
1840. Arnold, in Stanley, Life & Corr. (1844), II. App. 418. A place the very contradictory … of the hill Difficulty, and of the house Beautiful, and of the Land of Beulah.
1874. Pusey, Lent. Serm., 285. Since sloth is a deadly sin, it is a great thing that its contradictory, activity, is nature to us.
