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/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• (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

• (antonym(s) of “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
• principle of 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 (oc) 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 (hu)
• 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 (oc) 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 (es)
• Swedish: motsägelse (sv) c, självmotsägelse (sv) 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 (sv) 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 (sv) c

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin contradictiōnem.

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.