Etymologically
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contradictory

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Pronunciation

  • UK: /ˌkɒntɹəˈdɪkt(ə)ɹi/[1]
  • US: /ˌkɑntɹəˈdɪktəɹi/, /ˌkɒntɹəˈdɪkt(ə)ɹi/[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Late Latin contrādictōrius (“containing a contradiction or objection”),[2][3][4][5][6][7] which the OED takes from Latin contrādictor (“one who contradicts”)[2] and Etymonline and Klein from contrādictus, the past participle of contrādīcō (“to speak against”),[3][4][8] from contrā (“against”) and dīcō (“to say, speak”), from Proto-Indo-European *deik- (“to show”).[3] The OED compares Middle French contradictoire, used by Oresme in the 14th century.[2] It belongs with contradict and contradiction.[4][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

As a noun in logic, a contradictory proposition: about 1400, in the Testament of Love,[2][5][8] which the MED dates to about 1385 and attributes to Thomas Usk.[9]

Semantic evolution

The word entered English as a term of logic,[8][5] and Merriam-Webster also dates the noun to the 14th century.[6] The adjective appears in 1533, in Thomas More, for statements that are mutually opposed and cannot be true together;[2] Etymonline dates it to the 1530s.[3] Bacon used it in 1605 for denying that a statement is wholly true,[2] and Johnson (1755) defined it as "opposite to; inconsistent with".[10] Later uses widened it to things of opposite tendency or effect (1736) and to something inconsistent in itself (1868),[2] and in 1891 it was first used of a person given to contradicting others.[2]

Timeline

  • c. 1400 – noun, a contradictory proposition.[2][9]
  • 1533 – adjective, mutually opposed, inconsistent.[2]
  • 1605 – denying that a statement is wholly true.[2]
  • 1736 – of opposite character or effect.[2]
  • 1840 – noun, the opposite, the contrary.[2]
  • 1868 – inconsistent in itself.[2]
  • 1891 – of a person, given to contradiction.[2]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Opposed to each other or inconsistent, so that both cannot be true: The witnesses gave contradictory accounts of the crash.[11][6][2]
  2. Containing elements that do not fit together: a contradictory policy.[2][6]
  3. Inclined to argue or to contradict others: a contradictory old man.[11][6][2]
  4. In logic, of two propositions, so related that one must be true and the other false.[11][6]

Noun

  1. In logic, a proposition that contradicts another.[6][2][5]
  2. Something opposite or contrary to another thing.[6][2]

Word family

  • contradictorily
  • contradictoriness
  • intercontradictory
  • noncontradictory
  • uncontradictory
  • self-contradictory

References

  1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b c Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  5. ^ a b c d Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  7. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  8. ^ a b c Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  9. ^ a b Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
  10. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
  11. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins