au contraire
3
8.9
- idiom
- /oʊ kɒ̃ˈtrɛr/
:
al contrario
- No, au contraire.
- Au contraire, I said
Examples
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Au contraire, he has achieved tremendous successes.
Blog text (5) -
Au contraire, I actually find this solution quite effective.
-
- Au contraire, my dear.
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Au contraire, most of us have wonderful lives.
Blog text (2) -
Au contraire, not racist at all.
Blog text (29) -
Au contraire, my friend.
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But au contraire, mon frère --
Blog text (8) -
Au contraire, there is a growing body of evidence, including tumors in rats that have eaten GMO foods.
Blog text (11) -
When asked if I was disappointed, I said, 'Au contraire, I am very happy with the outcome!'
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She argued that the project was a failure; au contraire, I thought it was a great success.
Synonyms
68
3.2
To say the opposite to correct a wrong idea
56
4.3
In a way that shows the opposite is true
42
4.6
To introduce a statement that shows the opposite of what was just said
1
6.5
In a way that is the opposite of what was expected
In a way that is the opposite of what was said
Antonyms
Surface Forms
Morphology
au + contraire
This is a French loan phrase whose parts are not English lexical items, so an average B1 English learner who only knows the English lexicon will not be able to derive the meaning from the constituents. Although 'contraire' is cognate with English 'contrary' (and speakers of Romance languages might infer the sense), the phrase functions as a fixed foreign idiom in English and is therefore not compositionally transparent for typical learners.
Etymology
Au contraire comes from French and literally puts together au 'to' and contraire 'opposite'. Picture someone pointing at the opposite idea: saying au contraire is a short, slightly formal way to disagree and mean 'on the contrary' or 'quite the opposite'.