Dictionary

contravene en · VERB

Pronunciation

• (Southern-England) audio
• /ˌkɒn.tɹəˈviːn/ (UK)

Etymology

From Middle French contravenir (French contrevenir), from Latin contraveniō.

Meanings

1. (transitive) To act contrary to an order; to fail to conform to a regulation or obligation.
   • Some legal experts argue that the bill contravenes Canada’s charter of rights and freedoms. Montreal constitutional lawyer Julius Grey told the Vancouver Sun that Bill 78 was "flagrantly unconstitutional". 2012 May 24, Adam Gabbatt, “Canada student protests erupt into political crisis with mass arrests”, in the Guardian:
   • […] nothing is a commandement, or a commanded dutie but that which if we contravene, it maketh us guilty of sin before God, 1648, Samuel Rutherford, chapter 69, in A Survey of the Spirituall Antichrist, London: Andrew Crooke, page 141:
   • It was a construction in wood, with manifold “features” suggestive of the villa, the bungalow, the chateau, the palace; it united all tastes and contravened all conventions. 1919, Henry Blake Fuller, chapter 2, in Bertram Cope’s Year, Chicago: Ralph Fletcher Seymour, page 19:
   • I have shown that slavery is wicked […] in that it contravenes the laws of eternal justice, and tramples in the dust all the humane and heavenly precepts of the New Testament. 1855, Frederick Douglass, “. Appendix.”, in My Bondage and My Freedom. […], New York; Auburn, N.Y.: Miller, Orton & Mulligan […], →OCLC, part II (Life as a Freeman), page 436:
   • […] the other medical visitors having a consultative influence, but no power to contravene Lydgate’s ultimate decisions; 1872, George Eliot, Middlemarch, London: William Blackwood, Volume 3, Book 5, Chapter 45, p. 44:
   • […] this Article directly contravenes the Treaty with Portugal […] 1713, Daniel Defoe, Considerations upon the eighth and ninth articles of the treaty of commerce and navigation, London: J. Baker, page 8:
2. (obsolete, transitive) To deny the truth of something.
   • This is a large octavo of more than five hundred pages, a cool, scientific collection of facts that cannot be contravened, leading up to the inescapable conclusion […] 1915, William Henry Cobb, chapter 5, in The Meaning of Christian Unity, New York: Crowell, page 135:
   • That the detention of the troops was a wise measure, is not to be contravened; 1803, Robert Charles Dallas, The History of the Maroons, London: Longman and Rees, Volume 1, Letter 6, p. 168:
   • 1653, William Birchley, The Christian Moderator, Part 3, London: Richard Lowndes, p. 7, […] to make the contravening of Doctrines, to be capitall, before they be fully proved, is prejudiciall to that liberty, without which none can justify himself before God or Man:
   • To contravene positions, that have been discussed again and again by writers of the first genius and erudition, and to disparage the genuineness of the bible histories wholly and indiscriminately, without some precision of investigation, some specific allegations, founded on the report of authentic documents, is intolerable arrogance […] 1794, Gilbert Wakefield, An Examination of The Age of Reason, London, page 38:

Forms

Deriveds

contraveningly

Relateds

contravener · contravention

Synonyms

breach · contradict · break · infringe · gainsay · controvert · violate · dispute

Translations (10)

bg противореча (to deny the truth of something) · es conculcar (to act contrary to an order, or fail to conform) · de verstoßen (to act contrary to an order, or fail to conform) · bg отивам против (to act contrary to an order, or fail to conform) · ro contraveni (to act contrary to an order, or fail to conform) · bg опълчвам се (to act contrary to an order, or fail to conform) · es contravenir (to act contrary to an order, or fail to conform) · mi takahi (to act contrary to an order, or fail to conform) · de leugnen (to deny the truth of something) · de zuwiderhandeln (to act contrary to an order, or fail to conform)