Across vs Contrary - What's the difference?
across | contrary |
To, toward or from the far side of (something that lies between two points of interest).
On the opposite side of (something that lies between two points of interest).
(Southern US, AAVE) On the opposite side, relative to something that lies between, from (a point of interest).
* 1994 June 21, Thong P Tong <tongtp@coyote.cig.mot.comcoyote.cig.mot.com>, "Re: Battle Tech Center", message-ID <2u7lsi$79n@delphinium.cig.mot.com>, comp.sys.ibm.pc.games , Usenet [http://groups.google.com/group/comp.sys.ibm.pc.games/msg/28d5e0700985bbe6]:
* 1995 , (Ronald Kessler), Inside the White House , 1996 edition, ISBN 0671879197, page 243 [http://books.google.com/books?id=lJz-yIZNE2sC&pg=PA243&dq=across]:
From one side to the other within (a space being traversed).
*
, title=(The Celebrity), chapter=8
, passage=I corralled the judge, and we started off across the fields, in no very mild state of fear of that gentleman's wife, whose vigilance was seldom relaxed. And thus we came by a circuitous route to Mohair, the judge occupied by his own guilty thoughts, and I by others not less disturbing.}}
At or near the far end of (a space).
* 2004 , (Josephine Cox), Lovers and Liars , ISBN 0060525479, page 78 [http://books.google.com/books?id=MSZf-siTBGUC&pg=PA78&dq=across]:
Spanning.
Throughout.
* {{quote-magazine, year=2012, month=March-April, author=Anna Lena Phillips, volume=100, issue=2, page=172
, magazine=(American Scientist)
, title= * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-21, author=
, volume=189, issue=2, page=30, magazine=(The Guardian Weekly)
, title= So as to intersect or pass through or over at an angle.
* 2010 , (Alex Bledsoe), The Girls with Games of Blood , , ISBN 9780765323842, page 147 [http://books.google.com/books?id=3O878YujdCEC&pg=PA147&dq=across]:
From one side to the other.
* {{quote-magazine, date=2013-07-20, volume=408, issue=8845, magazine=(The Economist)
, title= On the other side.
In a particular direction.
(crosswords) Horizontally.
(crosswords) A clue whose solution runs horizontally in the grid.
Opposite; in an opposite direction; in opposition; adverse.
* Bible, Leviticus xxvi. 21
* Shakespeare
Opposed; contradictory; inconsistent.
* Whewell
Given to opposition; perverse; wayward.
The opposite.
* Shakespeare
One of a pair of propositions that cannot both be simultaneously true.
* I. Watts
(obsolete) To oppose; to frustrate.
*Bishop Latimer
*:I was advised not to contrary the king.
*, I.47:
*:The Athenians having left the enemie in their owne land, for to pass into Sicilie , had very ill successe, and were much contraried by fortune.
(obsolete) To impugn.
(obsolete) To contradict (someone or something).
*:
*:thus wilfully sir Palomydes dyd bataille with yow / & as for hym sir I was not gretely aferd but I dred fore la?celot that knew yow not / Madame said Palomydes ye maye saye what so ye wyll / I maye not contrary yow but by my knyghthode I knewe not sir Tristram
*, II.12:
*:I finde them everie one in his turne to have reason, although they contrary one another.
(obsolete) To do the opposite of (someone'' or ''something ).
(obsolete) To act inconsistently or perversely; to act in opposition to .
(obsolete) To argue; to debate; to uphold an opposite opinion.
(obsolete) To be self-contradictory; to become reversed.
As adverbs the difference between across and contrary
is that across is from one side to the other while contrary is contrarily.As nouns the difference between across and contrary
is that across is (crosswords) a clue whose solution runs horizontally in the grid while contrary is the opposite.As a preposition across
is to, toward or from the far side of (something that lies between two points of interest).As an adjective contrary is
opposite; in an opposite direction; in opposition; adverse.As a verb contrary is
(obsolete) to oppose; to frustrate.across
English
Preposition
(English prepositions)- And make sure you're parked across the mall in the outside lot. Last time I was there, I parked in a parking structure and paid an arm and a leg for it.
- On another occasion, Clinton asked to drive him to Chelsea's school, Booker Elementary, where Clinton met the department store clerk and climbed into her car.
- "I parked across the entrance and stood outside the car looking around, about 120 feet from where they were parked in a lot that was pretty well lit," Patterson recalled. "They stayed in the car for thirty to forty minutes."
- "Mam's baking and Cathleen's asleep. I've got a pile of washing bubbling in the copper, so I'd best be off." With that she was across the room and out the door.
Sneaky Silk Moths, passage=Last spring, the periodical cicadas emerged across eastern North America. Their vast numbers and short above-ground life spans inspired awe and irritation in humans—and made for good meals for birds and small mammals.}}
Chico Harlan
Japan pockets the subsidy …, passage=Across Japan, technology companies and private investors are racing to install devices that until recently they had little interest in: solar panels. Massive solar parks are popping up as part of a rapid build-up that one developer likened to an "explosion."}}
- He parked across the end of the driveway, blocking her in.
Derived terms
* across-the-board * come across * get across * put across * put one across * run acrossAdverb
(-)Welcome to the plastisphere, passage=[The researchers] noticed many of their pieces of [plastic marine] debris sported surface pits around two microns across . Such pits are about the size of a bacterial cell. Closer examination showed that some of these pits did, indeed, contain bacteria, […].}}
Noun
(es)- I solved all of the acrosses , but then got stuck on 3 down.
Statistics
*contrary
English
Adjective
(en adjective)- contrary winds
- And if ye walk contrary unto me, and will not hearken unto me
- We have lost our labour; they are gone a contrary way.
- The doctrine of the earth's motion appeared to be contrary to the sacred Scripture.
- a contrary''' disposition; a '''contrary child
Derived terms
* contrarian * contrarily * contrariwise * contrary toNoun
(contraries)- No contraries hold more antipathy / Than I and such a knave.
- 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.
