contrary

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. adj. Opposed, as in character or purpose: contrary opinions; acts that are contrary to our code of ethics.
2. adj. Opposite in direction or position: Our boat took a course contrary to theirs. See Synonyms at opposite.
3. adj. Music Moving in the opposite direction at a fixed interval: playing scales in contrary motion.
4. adj. Adverse; unfavorable: a contrary wind.
5. adj. Given to recalcitrant behavior; willful or perverse.
6. n. Something that is opposite or contrary.
7. n. Either of two opposing or contrary things: "Truth is perhaps . . . a dynamic compound of opposites, savage contraries for a moment conjoined” ( A. Bartlett Giamatti).
8. n. Logic A proposition related to another in such a way that if the latter is true, the former must be false, but if the latter is false, the former is not necessarily true.
9. adv. In an opposite direction or manner; counter: The judge ruled contrary to all precedent in the case.
10. idiom. by contraries Obsolete In opposition to what is expected.
11. idiom. on the contrary In opposition to what has been stated or what is expected: I'm not sick; on the contrary, I'm in the peak of health.
12. idiom. to the contrary To the opposite effect from what has been stated or what is expected: Despite what you say to the contary, this contract is fair.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. Opposite; opposed; at the opposite point or in an opposite direction.
2. In botany, at right angles to: as, a silique compressed contrary to the dissepiment (that is, in a direction at right angles to it, in distinction from a parallel direction).
3. Extremely unlike; the most unlike of anything within the same class: thus, hot and cold, up and down, sage and fool, heaven and hell, are contrary terms. In logic two propositions are contrary when the one denies every possible case of the other: as, All cows are black; No cows are black. They are contradictory when, one being universal, the other denies some only of the things asserted in the first: as, All men are wise; Some men are not wise.
4. Adverse; hostile; opposing; antagonistic; opposite; conflicting.
5. Given to contradiction; acting in opposition; captious; perverse; intractable; unaccommodating.
6. Wilful, Untoward, etc. See wayward.
7. n. One of a pair of objects placed at opposite points or seen in opposite directions; an opposite.
8. n. One of a pair of characters, propositions, statements, or terms, the most different possible within the same general sphere or class. See I., 3.
9. n. A contradiction; a denial.
10. n. An adversary.
11. In a contrary way; with a contrary result.
12. In heraldry, oppositely; contrariwise: said of two bearings each of which is in some sense the reverse of the other. Thus, contrary flected signifies bent or bowed in opposite directions; contrary invected or invecked means having both sides invected and in opposite senses; and contrary undé means undé on both the upper and under sides.
13. To oppose; contradict.

Wiktionary

1. adj. opposed in nature
2. adj. strongly dissimilar
3. adv. Contrarily
4. n. The opposite.
5. n. One of a pair of propositions that cannot both be simultaneously true.
6. v. obsolete To oppose; to frustrate.
7. v. obsolete To impugn.
8. v. obsolete To contradict (someone or something).
9. v. obsolete To do the opposite of (someone or something).
10. v. obsolete To act inconsistently or perversely; to act in opposition to.
11. v. obsolete To argue; to debate; to uphold an opposite opinion.
12. v. obsolete To be self-contradictory; to become reversed.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. adj. Opposite; in an opposite direction; in opposition; adverse.
2. adj. Opposed; contradictory; repugnant; inconsistent.
3. adj. Given to opposition; perverse; forward; wayward.
4. adj. (Logic) Affirming the opposite; so opposed as to destroy each other.
5. n. A thing that is of contrary or opposite qualities.
6. n. obsolete An opponent; an enemy.
7. n. the opposite; a proposition, fact, or condition incompatible with another. See Converse, n., 1.
8. n. (Logic) See Contraries.
9. v. obsolete To contradict or oppose; to thwart.

WordNet 3.0

1. adj. very opposed in nature or character or purpose
2. adj. resistant to guidance or discipline
3. n. a logical relation such that two propositions are contraries if both cannot be true but both can be false
4. n. exact opposition
5. n. a relation of direct opposition
6. adj. in an opposing direction
7. adj. of words or propositions so related that both cannot be true but both may be false