Crossword Dictionary
contradictory
contradictory - a
of words or propositions so related that both cannot be true and both cannot be false; "`perfect' and `imperfect' are contradictory terms"
synonyms
antipodal, antipodean, antithetical, contrary, diametric (or diametrical), opposite, polar
in a sentence
contradictory predictions regarding stock prices that were of no help to investors at all
Information online was often contradictory and difficult to find.
etymology
1530s, "mutually opposed, at variance, inconsistent, incapable of being true together," from Late Latin contradictorius"containing a contradiction or objection," from contradictus, past participle of contradicere "to speak against" (see contradiction).
Sense of "denying that something stated or approved is completely true" is from c. 1600. Meaning "fond of contradicting" is from 1891. Other adjectives, now obsolete, in the same sense were contradictorious (early 15c.), contradictious (c. 1600), contradictive(1620s). Related: Contradictorily. Used earlier as a noun (late 14c.) in plural contradictories, "a pair of propositions inconsistent with each other."