different between contra vs versus

English

Etymology

Ultimately from Latin contr?.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?k?nt??/

Preposition

contra

1. against; contrary or opposed to; in opposition or contrast to

Synonyms

• against, anti

Antonyms

• for, pro

Translations

Adverb

contra (comparative more contra, superlative most contra)

1. contrary to something

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:contrarily

Translations

Noun

contra (plural contras)

1. (business) A deal to swap goods or services.
2. (politics, derogatory) A conservative; originally tied to Nicaraguan counter-revolutionaries.
3. (accounting) An entry (or account) that cancels another entry (or account).

4. (music, informal) Any of the musical instruments in the contrabass range, e.g. contrabassoon, contrabass clarinet or, especially, double bass.
5. (dance) A contra dance.
6. (obsolete, US, New England, dance) A country dance.
   • 2001, The Garland Encyclopedia of World Music: North America. Garland Publishing. Ellen Koskoff (Ed.). Pg. 232.

     Folk histories record that contras were gradually displaced by the introduction of the quadrille and the new couple dances.

Translations

Verb

contra (third-person singular simple present contras, no present participle, no simple past or past participle)

1. (accounting) To undo; to reverse.

Translations

Anagrams

• Cantor, Carnot, Carton, Catron, TRACON, cantor, carton, corant, craton, tracon

Asturian

Etymology

From Latin contr?.

Preposition

contra

1. against

Catalan

Etymology

From Latin contr?.

Pronunciation

• (Balearic, Central) IPA^(key): /?k?n.t??/
• (Valencian) IPA^(key): /?kon.t?a/

Adverb

contra

1. against

Noun

contra m (plural contres)

1. con (disadvantage)

   Antonym: pro

Related terms

• contra-
• contrari

Further reading

• “contra” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
• “contra” in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana.
• “contra” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “contra” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

Dalmatian

Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Adverb

contra

1. against

References

• Bartoli, Matteo Giulio (1906) Il Dalmatico: Resti di un’antica lingua romanza parlata da Veglia a Ragusa e sua collocazione nella Romània appenino-balcanica, Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana, published 2000

Finnish

Noun

contra

1. Contra (anti-Sandinista fighter)

Declension

Synonyms

• contrasissi

French

Verb

contra

1. third-person singular past historic of contrer

Anagrams

• carton

Galician

Etymology

From Latin contr?.

Preposition

contra

1. against

Noun

contra f (plural contras)

1. (usually in the plural) shutter

Further reading

• “contra” in Dicionario da Real Academia Galega, Royal Galician Academy.

Italian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?kon.tra/
• Hyphenation: cón?tra
• Rhymes: -ontra

Etymology 1

From Latin contr?.

Adverb

contra

Preposition

contra

1. Obsolete form of contro.

See also

• contrapposto

Etymology 2

Inflected form of contrare

Verb

contra

1. third-person singular present indicative of contrare
2. second-person singular imperative of contrare

Anagrams

• tronca

Ladin

Etymology

From Latin contr?.

Preposition

contra

1. against

Latin

Etymology

From Proto-Italic *komter?d, abl.sg.f. of *komteros (“the other of the two who meet, opposite”). The abl.sg.m./n. of the same is continued in Latin contr?-, cognate to Oscan contrud. Ultimately a suffixed form of Latin cum, Proto-Indo-European *?óm (“next to, at, with, along”), like intr? from in, extr? from ex, but unlike these lacking external cognates, and therefore of Italic origin.

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /?kon.tra?/, [?k?n?t??ä?]
• (Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /?kon.tra/, [?k?n?t???]

Adverb

contr? (not comparable)

1. against
2. opposite to
3. contrary to
4. otherwise
5. in return, back

Preposition

contr? (+ accusative)

1. against
2. across from, opposite

Derived terms

• contr?rius

Descendants

References

Further reading

• contra in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• contra in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• contra in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition, 1883–1887)
• contra in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré Latin-Français, Hachette
• Carl Meissner; Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book?^[1], London: Macmillan and Co.
• contra in Ramminger, Johann (accessed 16 July 2016) Neulateinische Wortliste: Ein Wörterbuch des Lateinischen von Petrarca bis 1700?^[2], pre-publication website, 2005-2016

Occitan

Etymology

From Latin contra.

Preposition

contra

1. against

Portuguese

Etymology

From Latin contr?.

Pronunciation

• (Portugal, Brazil) IPA^(key): /?kõ.t??/
• Hyphenation: con?tra

Preposition

contra

1. against

Antonyms

• a favor
• em prol
• em favor
• em defesa

Further reading

• “contra” in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa.

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French contre, Italian contra, Latin contr?. Doublet of the inherited c?tre.

Preposition

contra

1. against, versus

Adverb

contra

1. against, opposed to, opposite
2. in exchange for

Spanish

Etymology

From Latin contr?.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?kont?a/, [?kõn?.t??a]

Preposition

contra

1. against, versus

   Synonym: en oposición a

   Antonym: a favor de

Derived terms

Related terms

• contrario
• encontrar

Descendants

• Hiligaynon: kontra
• Tagalog: kontra

Noun

contra m (plural contras)

1. con (disadvantage)

   Antonym: pro

Noun

contra f (plural contras)

1. antidote
2. counterpunch

Adverb

contra

1. opposite, facing

   Synonym: en oposición a

   Antonym: a favor de

Further reading

• “contra” in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014.

Anagrams

English

Etymology

From Middle English versus, borrowed from Latin versus (“facing”), past participle of vertere (“to turn, change, overthrow, destroy”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /?v??s?s/, /?v??s?z/
• (US) IPA^(key): /?v?s?s/, /?v?s?z/, /?v?s/
• Rhymes: -??(r)s?s
• Homophone: verses

Preposition

versus

1. Against; in opposition to.

   Synonyms: vs, vs., (abbreviations) v

2. Compared with, as opposed to.
   • 2005, Robert E. Weiss, Modeling Longitudinal Data, Springer, ?ISBN, page 104:

     If, for example, we select random people entering a workout gym, versus if we pick random people entering a hospital, we will get very different samples.

3. (law) Bringing a legal action against, as used in the title of a court case in which the first party indicates the plaintiff (or appellant or the like), and the second indicates the defendant (or respondent or the like).

   Synonyms: v, (abbreviation) v.

Translations

Related terms

Further reading

• versus on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Finnish

Etymology

Latin versus

Preposition

versus

1. versus

Italian

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin versus. Doublet of verso, which is inherited.

Preposition

versus

1. versus

Latin

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /?u?er.sus/, [?u??rs??s?]
• (Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /?ver.sus/, [?v?rsus]

Etymology 1

From earlier vorsus, from Proto-Italic *worssos, perfect passive participle of vert? (“to turn”).

Alternative forms

• vorsus

Participle

versus (feminine versa, neuter versum); first/second-declension participle

1. turned, changed, having been turned

Declension

First/second-declension adjective.

Derived terms

• annivers?rius
• contr?versus
• pr?rsus/ pr?sus
• ?niversus

Etymology 2

Adverbial use of versus (“turned”).

Alternative forms

• versum
• vorsum
• vorsus

Adverb

versus (not comparable)

1. towards, turned to or in the direction of, facing

Derived terms

Descendants

Etymology 3

Action noun from vert? + -tus.

Alternative forms

• vorsus

Noun

versus m (genitive vers?s); fourth declension

1. a furrow (turned earth)
2. (transf.) a line, row
   2. (partic.) a line of writing, a verse

3. a land measure (= ??????? (pléthron))
4. (dance) a turn, step

Declension

Fourth-declension noun.

Derived terms

• versiculus
• versific?

Descendants

Etymology 4

Perfect passive participle of verr? (“to sweep”).

Participle

versus (feminine versa, neuter versum); first/second-declension participle

1. swept

Declension

First/second-declension adjective.

References

• versus in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• versus in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• versus in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition, 1883–1887)
• versus in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré Latin-Français, Hachette
• Carl Meissner; Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book?^[2], London: Macmillan and Co.

Anagrams

• servus

Polish

Etymology

From Latin versus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?v?r.sus/

Preposition

versus

1. versus (in opposition to)

   Synonym: kontra

Further reading

• versus in Wielki s?ownik j?zyka polskiego, Instytut J?zyka Polskiego PAN
• versus in Polish dictionaries at PWN

Portuguese

Preposition

versus

1. Alternative spelling of vérsus

Spanish

Etymology

Borrowed from English versus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?be?sus/, [?be?.sus]

Preposition

versus

1. versus

Usage notes

This word is sometimes frowned upon as an anglicism, with the suggestion that contra or the conjunction y should be used instead.

Further reading

• “versus” in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014.

References