different between contradictory vs counter

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Late Latin contradictorius, from Latin contradico.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?k?nt???d?kt(?)?i/
• (General American, Canada) IPA^(key): /?k?nt???d?kt??i/
• Hyphenation: con?tra?dic?to?ry

Adjective

contradictory (comparative more contradictory, superlative most contradictory)

1. That contradicts something, such as an argument.
2. That is itself a contradiction.
3. That is diametrically opposed to something.
4. Mutually exclusive.
5. Tending to contradict or oppose, contrarious.

Synonyms

• opposite
• (mutually exclusive) incompatible

Derived terms

• contradictorily
• contradictoriness
• self-contradictory

Related terms

• contradict
• contradiction
• contradictorious

Translations

Noun

contradictory (plural contradictories)

1. (logic) Either of a pair of propositions, that cannot both be true or both be false.

Hyponyms

• negation

Translations

See also

• oxymoron
• paradox

English

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /?ka?nt?/, [?k?a?????]
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?ka?nt?/
• Rhymes: -a?nt?(?)
• Hyphenation: count?er

Etymology 1

From Anglo-Norman countour, from Old French conteor (French comptoir), from Medieval Latin comput?t?rium, from Latin comput?. Doublet of kontor and cantore.

Noun

counter (plural counters)

1. One who counts.

2. A reckoner; someone who collects data by counting; an enumerator.
3. An object (now especially a small disc) used in counting or keeping count, or as a marker in games, etc.

4. A telltale; a contrivance attached to an engine, printing press, or other machine, for the purpose of counting the revolutions or the pulsations.
5. (programming) A variable, memory location, etc. whose contents are incremented to keep a count.
6. (Internet) A hit counter.
7. A table or board on which money is counted and over which business is transacted

8. A shop tabletop on which goods are examined, weighed or measured.
9. In a kitchen, a surface, often built into the wall and above a cabinet, designed to be used for food preparation.
10. In a bathroom, a surface, often built into the wall and above a cabinet, which holds the washbasin.
11. (curling) Any stone lying closer to the center than any of the opponent's stones.
12. (historical) The prison attached to a city court; a compter.
    • 1590, John Greenwood, Christopher Bowman's Petition

      He remaynes prisonner in the Counter in Woodstrete in the hole, by the contagiousing wherof he is lyke to perishe

13. (grammar) A class of word used along with numbers to count objects and events, typically mass nouns. Although rare and optional in English (e.g. "20 head of cattle"), they are numerous and required in Chinese, Japanese, and Korean.

Derived terms

Synonyms

• (grammar) measure word

Translations

Etymology 2

From Old French contre, Anglo-Norman cuntre, both from Latin contra.

Adverb

counter (not comparable)

1. Contrary, in opposition; in an opposite direction.

   • running counter to all the rules of virtue

2. In the wrong way; contrary to the right course.

   a hound that runs counter

   • 2004, Bee Lavender, Maia Rossini, Mamaphonic: Balancing Motherhood and Other Creative Acts

     She hated being pregnant; it ran counter to everything she wanted from her body

   • 1615, George Sandys, The Relation of a Journey begun an. Dom. 1610, in four books

     which [darts] they never throw counter, but at the back of the flyer

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:contrarily

Translations

Noun

counter (plural counters)

1. Something opposite or contrary to something else.
2. (martial arts) A proactive defensive hold or move in reaction to a hold or move by one's opponent.

3. (nautical) The overhanging stern of a vessel above the waterline, below and somewhat forward of the stern proper.
4. The piece of a shoe or a boot around the heel of the foot (above the heel of the shoe/boot).
   • 1959, J. D. Salinger, Seymour: An Introduction:

     Seymour, sitting in an old corduroy armchair across the room, a cigarette going, wearing a blue shirt, gray slacks, moccasins with the counters broken down, a shaving cut on the side of his face […]

5. (music) Alternative form of contra Formerly used to designate any under part which served for contrast to a principal part, but now used as equivalent to countertenor.
6. The breast of a horse; that part of a horse between the shoulders and under the neck.
7. (typography) The enclosed or partly closed negative space of a glyph.
8. (obsolete) An encounter.

   • with kindly counter under mimic shade

Translations

Verb

counter (third-person singular simple present counters, present participle countering, simple past and past participle countered)

1. To contradict, oppose.
2. (boxing) To return a blow while receiving one, as in boxing.
   • 1857, Charles Kingsley, Two Years Ago

     His left hand countered provokingly.

3. To take action in response to; to respond.
4. (transitive, obsolete) To encounter.

Translations

Adjective

counter (not comparable)

1. Contrary or opposing

   Synonyms: opposite, contrasted, opposed, adverse, antagonistic

   • a. 1865, Isaac Taylor, Mind in Form

     Innumerable facts attesting the counter principle.

Derived terms

Anagrams

• Cureton, Cutrone, cornute, countre, recount, trounce

Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from English counter.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?k?u?n.t?r/
• Hyphenation: coun?ter

Noun

counter m (plural counters)

1. (chiefly sports, especially soccer) counter-attack, counter

   Synonym: tegenaanval

Related terms

• counteren

Old French

Verb

counter

1. Late Anglo-Norman spelling of conter

Conjugation

This verb conjugates as a first-group verb ending in -er. The forms that would normally end in *-ts, *-tt are modified to z, t. Old French conjugation varies significantly by date and by region. The following conjugation should be treated as a guide.