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contrapositive

contrapositive

1 9.9
Relating to a statement made by swapping the if and then parts and making them the opposite in a conditional
  • adjective
  • /ˌkɒntrəˈpɒzɪtɪv/
  • Specialized
translation icon : contrapositivo
  • In logic, understanding the contrapositive helps clarify the relationship between premises and conclusions.

Examples

  • I love the contrapositive so much.

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  • And now using grammar or contrapositive, whatever, this is the same thing as saying that B is at least as hard as A.

  • If I am right that this is our situation, then we are arguing the contrapositive of the same statement.

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  • And I wish all the best to Jessamyn and her beloved contrapositive!

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  • You have the forward backward method, the contrapositive contradiction construction, choose specialization.

  • When proving a theorem, sometimes it's easier to work with the contrapositive rather than the original statement.

  • A mathematician often uses the contrapositive to demonstrate the validity of an argument by reversing its condition.

Surface Forms

contrapositive positive

Morphology

contrapositive = positive (opaque) = contra + positive

Although the components are analyzable ('contra' + 'positive'), the technical logical meaning (negating and reversing a conditional) is specialized and not directly inferable by an average learner from the components.

Etymology

The word contrapositive comes from contra- 'against' and positive 'affirming', so it carries the idea of being 'against the affirmative'. In logic, something called contrapositive reverses the 'if' part and the 'then' part and makes each one negative, which is why the name fits the form.