[f. CONTRA- 1 + DISTINCTION.] The action of contradistinguishing; distinction by contrast or opposition.
1655. Fuller, Ch. Hist., VI. v. 334. Britain … is styled Another World, and in this contradistinction … acquits itself well in proportion of famous writers.
1836–7. Sir W. Hamilton, Metaph., xiii. (1870), 222. One of these errors is the contradistinction of perception from consciousness.
1842. W. Grove, Corr. Phys. Forces, 76. The changes … have acquired … a generic contradistinction from other material changes.
b. esp. in phr. in contradistinction to (less usually from).
1647. Saltmarsh, Spark. Glory (1847), 173. Called Gospel-Ordinances … in contradistinction to the legal Ordinances.
1789. Durnford & East, Rep., III. 466. The necessity of an actual possession by the bankrupt, in contradistinction to a constructive possession by the intervention of an agent.
1874. Helps, Soc. Press., xxii. 342. You tend to produce a great capitalist in contradistinction to a number of small capitalists.
1882. Farrar, Early Chr., II. 484. There never was such a person as John the Presbyter in contradistinction from John the Apostle. The two were one.
