contradiction

Plural: contradictions

Noun

• opposition between two conflicting forces or ideas
• (logic) a statement that is necessarily false
  • "the statement `he is brave and he is not brave' is a contradiction"
• the speech act of contradicting someone
  • "he spoke as if he thought his claims were immune to contradiction"
• The act of contradicting.
• A statement that contradicts itself, i.e., a statement that claims that the same thing is true and that it is false at the same time and in the same senses of the terms.
• A logical inconsistency among two or more elements or propositions.
• A proposition that is false for all values of its propositional variables or Boolean atoms.

Examples

• His contradiction of the proposal was very interesting.
• Marx believed that the contradictions of capitalism would lead to socialism.
• 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.

Synonyms

contradiction in terms, oxymoron, ※, ↮, ↯, ⇒⇐, ⊥

Antonyms

tautology

Related Words

contradict, contradictory