contraries

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Webster's Dictionary (GCIDE)

Contraries \Con"tra*ries\ (? or ?; 48), n. pl. [Pl. of Contrary, n.] (Logic) Propositions which directly and destructively contradict each other, but of which the falsehood of one does not establish the truth of the other. [1913 Webster]

If two universals differ in quality, they are contraries; as, every vine is a tree; no vine is a tree. These can never be both true together; but they may be both false. --I. Watts. [1913 Webster]


Contrary \Con"tra*ry\, n.; pl. Contraries.

1.A thing that is of contrary or opposite qualities. [1913 Webster]

No contraries hold more antipathy Than I and such a knave.— Shak.[1913 Webster]

2.An opponent; an enemy. [Obs.] --Chaucer. [1913 Webster]

3.the opposite; a proposition, fact, or condition incompatible with another; as, slender proofs which rather show the contrary. See Converse, n., 1. --Locke. [1913 Webster]

4.(Logic) See Contraries. [1913 Webster]

On the contrary, in opposition; on the other hand. --Swift.

To the contrary, to an opposite purpose or intent; on the other side. "They did it, not for want of instruction to the contrary." --Bp. Stillingfleet. [1913 Webster]

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