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Contrary vs Comparison - What's the difference?

contrary | comparison |

As nouns the difference between contrary and comparison

is that contrary is the opposite while comparison is the act of comparing or the state or process of being compared.

As an adjective contrary

is opposite; in an opposite direction; in opposition; adverse.

As an adverb contrary

is contrarily.

As a verb contrary

is (obsolete) to oppose; to frustrate.

contrary

English

Adjective

(en adjective)
  • Opposite; in an opposite direction; in opposition; adverse.
  • contrary winds
  • * Bible, Leviticus xxvi. 21
  • And if ye walk contrary unto me, and will not hearken unto me
  • * Shakespeare
  • We have lost our labour; they are gone a contrary way.
  • Opposed; contradictory; inconsistent.
  • * Whewell
  • The doctrine of the earth's motion appeared to be contrary to the sacred Scripture.
  • Given to opposition; perverse; wayward.
  • a contrary''' disposition; a '''contrary child

    Derived terms

    * contrarian * contrarily * contrariwise * contrary to

    Adverb

    (en adverb)
  • Contrarily
  • Noun

    (contraries)
  • The opposite.
  • * Shakespeare
  • No contraries hold more antipathy / Than I and such a knave.
  • One of a pair of propositions that cannot both be simultaneously true.
  • * I. Watts
  • 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.

    Synonyms

    * witherward

    Derived terms

    * on the contrary * to the contrary

    Verb

    (en-verb)
  • (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.
  • References

    * * * *

    comparison

    English

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • The act of comparing or the state or process of being compared.
  • :
  • *{{quote-magazine, date=2013-07-20, volume=408, issue=8845, magazine=(The Economist)
  • , title= Old soldiers? , passage=Whether modern, industrial man is less or more warlike than his hunter-gatherer ancestors is impossible to determine. The machine gun is so much more lethal than the bow and arrow that comparisons are meaningless.}}
  • An evaluation of the similarities and differences of one or more things relative to some other or each-other.
  • :
  • * (1800-1859)
  • *:As sharp legal practitioners, no class of human beings can bear comparison with them.
  • *(Richard Chenevix Trench) (1807-1886)
  • *:The miracles of our Lord and those of the Old Testament afford many interesting points of comparison .
  • *
  • *:"I don't want to spoil any comparison you are going to make," said Jim, "but I was at Winchester and New College." ΒΆ "That will do," said Mackenzie. "I was dragged up at the workhouse school till I was twelve."
  • With a negation, the state of being similar or alike.
  • :
  • (label) The ability of adjectives and adverbs to form three degrees, as in hot, hotter, hottest .
  • That to which, or with which, a thing is compared, as being equal or like; illustration; similitude.
  • *(Bible), (w) iv. 30
  • *:Whereto shall we liken the kingdom of God? Or with what comparison shall we compare it?
  • (label) A simile.
  • (label) The faculty of the reflective group which is supposed to perceive resemblances and contrasts.