contradistinction
1
9.8
- noun
- /ˌkɒntrəˈdɪstɪŋkʃən/
- Formal
:
contradistinción
- Very often, the second kid becomes the rebel, breaking the rules in contradistinction to the goody-two-shoes older child who already has mom and dad's attention.
- stand in contradistinction
Examples
-
Needless to say, it did soon come to think of a "new" morality, one set in contradistinction to the morality that is found in the classical-medieval tradition.
Academic text (2001) -
Postmodernism does not define itself except to pose in contradistinction to what it says it is not.
Academic text (2001) -
But why do human beings occupy such a unique position in God's plan in contradistinction to other creatures?
Academic text (2018) -
What does it mean, for example, to say that in mourning, in contradistinction to melancholia, "there is nothing about the loss that is unconscious"?
Academic text (1998) -
What are the practical educational and artistic implications, in contradistinction to administrative convenience and political expediency?
Academic text (1995) -
In contradistinction, neither the praas nor the cities themselves especially lured the privileged classes of early Brazilian society.
Academic text (2000) -
As early Christianity developed, often defining itself in contradistinction to the Jewish traditions to which it was so closely related, it began to distance itself from a religious attachment to the land.
Academic text (2018) -
As a result, society is following a deviant variant of Islam, in contradistinction to sirat al-mustaqim, the "straight path" of God.
Academic text (2001) -
Heterotopias are, for Foucault, "real places" that exist in contradistinction to utopias, sites with "no real place" (24).
Academic text (2008) -
The artist's latest work is created in contradistinction to her previous style, highlighting her growth as an individual.
Synonyms
134
3.4
The act of showing how two or more things are different
35
9.5
A clear difference between two opposite ideas, for example good and bad
25
9.1
Putting two things side by side to compare or contrast them
2
3.7
A clear and strong difference between two things
To form a new if-then statement by switching the two parts and saying each is not true
How Different
- Formal
1
9.8
179
2.8
286
3.5
∞
1.0
157
2.7
Surface Forms
Morphology
contradistinction = distinction (semi-transparent) = contra + distinct + ion
The prefix 'contra-' clearly indicates opposition, but the specific meaning of contrasting one thing with another may not be immediately clear to all learners.
Etymology
Contradistinction starts with contra- meaning 'against' and ends with distinction, from distinguish, meaning 'a difference'. So, a contradistinction is a difference you show by putting one thing 'against' another, in other words a clear contrast.