资料来源 : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)
Contraries \Con"tra*ries\ (? or ?; 48), n. pl. [Pl. of
{Contrary}, n.] (Logic)
Propositions which directly and destructively contradict each
other, but of which the falsehood of one does not establish
the truth of the other.
If two universals differ in quality, they are
contraries; as, every vine is a tree; no vine is a
tree. These can never be both true together; but they
may be both false. --I. Watts.
Contrary \Con"tra*ry\, n.; pl. {Contraries}.
1. A thing that is of contrary or opposite qualities.
No contraries hold more antipathy Than I and such a
knave. --Shak.
2. An opponent; an enemy. [Obs.] --Chaucer.
3. the opposite; a proposition, fact, or condition
incompatible with another; as, slender proofs which rather
show the contrary. See {Converse}, n., 1. --Locke.
4. (Logic) See {Contraries}.
{On the contrary}, in opposition; on the other hand. --Swift.
{To the contrary}, to an opposite purpose or intent; on the
other side. ``They did it, not for want of instruction to
the contrary.'' --Bp. Stillingfleet.