Contrary vs Obstreperous - What's the difference?
contrary | obstreperous | Synonyms |
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.
Attended by, or making, a loud and tumultuous noise; boisterous.
* 1809 , , Knickerbocker's History of New York , ch. 7:
* 1855 , , "Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came":
* 1918 , , On the Stairs , ch. 3:
Stubbornly defiant; disobedient; resistant to authority or control, whether in a noisy manner or not.
* 1827 , , The Journal of Sir Walter Scott , October 1827:
* 1903 , , "A Sandshore Wooing" in Short Stories: 1902-1903 :
* 1915 , , The Gray Dawn , ch. 70:
Contrary is a synonym of obstreperous.
As adjectives the difference between contrary and obstreperous
is that contrary is opposite; in an opposite direction; in opposition; adverse while obstreperous is attended by, or making, a loud and tumultuous noise; boisterous.As an adverb contrary
is contrarily.As a noun contrary
is the opposite.As a verb contrary
is (obsolete) to oppose; to frustrate.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.
Synonyms
* witherwardDerived terms
* on the contrary * to the contraryVerb
(en-verb)References
* * * *obstreperous
English
Adjective
(en adjective)- [O]n a clear still summer evening you may hear from the battery of New York the obstreperous peals of broad-mouthed laughter of the Dutch negroes at Communipaw.
- . . . my hope
- Dwindled into a ghost not fit to cope
- With that obstreperous joy success would bring
- He developed an obstreperous baritone . . . and he made himself rather preponderant, whether he happened to know the song or not.
- [W]e came to Whittingham. Thence to Newcastle, where an obstreperous horse retarded us for an hour at least.
- My dress was draggled, my hat had slipped back, and the kinks and curls of my obstreperous hair were something awful.
- They reviled the committee collectively and singly; bragged that they would shoot Coleman, Truett, Durkee, and some others at sight; flourished weapons, and otherwise became so publicly and noisily obstreperous that the committee decided they needed a lesson.
