contradiction

Borrowed from Old French contradiction, from Latin contrādictiō, from contrādīcō (“speak against”).

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˌkɒntɹəˈdɪkʃən/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˌkɑːntɹəˈdɪkʃən/
• Rhymes: -ɪkʃən

contradiction (countable and uncountable, plural contradictions)

1. (countable, uncountable) The act of contradicting.

   His contradiction of the proposal was very interesting.

2. (countable) A statement that contradicts itself, i.e., a statement that makes a claim that the same thing is true and that it is false at the same time and in the same senses of the terms.

   There is a contradiction in Clarence Page's statement that a woman should have the right to choose and decide for herself whether to have an abortion, and at the same time she should not have that right.

   There is a contradiction in what you say: she can't be both married and single.

3. (countable) A logical inconsistency among two or more elements or propositions.

   Marx believed that the contradictions of capitalism would lead to socialism.

4. (logic, countable) A proposition that is false for all values of its variables.

• (statement that contradicts itself): oxymoron
• (proposition that is false for all values of its variables): ↯, ⇒⇐, ⊥, ↮, ※

• (proposition that is false for all values of its variables): tautology

• (proposition that is false for all values of its variables): contingency, tautology

• contradict
• contradictory
• self-contradiction

Borrowed from Latin contradictio, contradictionem.

• IPA^(key): /kɔ̃.tʁa.dik.sjɔ̃/

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contradiction f (plural contradictions)

1. contradiction (clarification of this definition is needed)

• contradictoire
• contredire

• “contradiction” in le Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).