different between inconsistent vs contradictory

English

Etymology

in- +? consistent

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /??nk?n?s?st?nt/

Adjective

inconsistent (comparative more inconsistent, superlative most inconsistent)

1. Not consistent:

   Antonym: consistent

   1. Not compatible (with another thing); incompatible, discrepant, at odds.

      His account of the evening was inconsistent with the security-camera footage.

   2. Lacking internal consistency; self-contradicting; not compatible with itself.

      He gave an inconsistent account of the evening, saying he called her before eight, but later that he had not talked to her until after nine.

      • 1862, The Christian Reformer (ed. Robert Aspland):

        He was one of those men of inconsistent politics, governed at once by prejudice and sympathies, whose 'attitude' it is impossible to foretell.

   3. Not consistent or coherent in thought or behavior.
      • 1848, The Columbian Magazine, volume 9, page 88:

        “Take him for better or worse,” added Mr. Lee, “and I think he is the strangest and most inconsistent man I ever saw.”

        “Inconsistent!” resumed Mr. Jones. “He is worse than inconsistent. Inconsistencies may be pardoned as constitutional defects [...]”

   4. (logic) Having the property that a contradiction can be derived.

Derived terms

• inconsistently

Related terms

• inconsistency

Translations

Anagrams

• nonscientist

Catalan

Etymology

in- +? consistent

Pronunciation

• (Balearic, Valencian) IPA^(key): /i?.kon.sis?tent/
• (Central) IPA^(key): /i?.kun.sis?ten/

Adjective

inconsistent (masculine and feminine plural inconsistents)

1. inconsistent

   Antonym: consistent

Related terms

• inconsistència

Further reading

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

Romanian

Etymology

From French inconsistant

Adjective

inconsistent m or n (feminine singular inconsistent?, masculine plural inconsisten?i, feminine and neuter plural inconsistente)

1. inconsistent

Declension

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