Dictionary

contradistinction en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• (Southern-England) audio
• /ˌkɑntɹədɪˈstɪŋkʃən/ (General-American)
• /ˌkɒntɹədɪˈstɪŋkʃn̩/ (Received-Pronunciation)

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *ḱe? Proto-Indo-European *ḱóm Proto-Italic *kom Proto-Italic *kom- Proto-Indo-European *-teros Proto-Italic *-teros Proto-Italic *komterosder. Proto-Italic *komterād Latin contrābor. English contra- English distinction English contradistinction From contra- + distinction.

Meanings

1. Distinction by contrast; the provision of one example against which another example may be defined.
   • Captain John Smith gives the name Reef Knot in 1627. Dana gives the name Square Knot in 1841. Few sailors speak of Square Knot except in contradistinction to Granny Knot but it is the common shore name for the knot and is in good repute among sailors. 1944, Clifford W. Ashley, The Ashley Book of Knots, page 220:
   • We used hamburgers and soda in contradistinction to healthy food.
   • As a shorthand, we could also call it global trade, in contradistinction from local trade, the latter being within the nation state, or at short distance. 2026 January 14, Alan Taylor, “Driving over the peak, or a false summit? − speech by Alan Taylor”, in (Please provide the book title or journal name), Bank of England:
   • It will be noted that on this service, in contradistinction to that from and to Bristol, extra trains are provided to cope with peak-hour conditions; [...]. 1961 October, “The winter timetables of British Railways: Western Region”, in Trains Illustrated, page 591:
   • The doctrine that everything is God, in contradistinction to the doctrine that God is everything. 1911, Ambrose Bierce, “pantheism”, in The Devil’s Dictionary, New York, N.Y.; Washington, D.C.: The Neale Publishing Company, →OCLC:
2. The quality of being contradistinctive.

Forms

Deriveds

contradistinctively · contradistinctive

Relateds

contradistinguish

Translations (8)

bg противопоставяне (distinction by contrast) · sv motsats (distinction by contrast) · fr contradistinction (distinction by contrast) · de kontradistinktion (distinction by contrast) · el αντιδιαστολή (distinction by contrast) · is til aðgreiningar frá (distinction by contrast) · no kontradistinksjon (distinction by contrast) · is sem annars konar fyrirbæri en (distinction by contrast)