contradict
verb
Simple meaning
To say that something is not true.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
kahntruhdiktSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
kɑntɹəˈdɪkt
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
verb
To deny the truth or validity of (a statement or statements).
To oppose (a person) by denying the truth or pertinence of a given statement.
reflexive
To say things that conflict with each other.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- C1 · Advanced (estimated)
- Frequency
- Uncommon
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: To deny the truth or validity of (a statement or statements).
Used this way, contradict is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- No strong connotation
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Nearby words
- controvert , rarer, so it draws attention
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
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Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Related words
Connected by subject or meaning, not by word formation.
Contradicting yourself.
Related Words
Connected to the same idea, not synonyms.
- testimonynoun
- assumptionnoun
- explanationnoun
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
Synonyms
Sense: to deny the truth or validity of (a statement
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What Does It Mean Here?
Words can change meaning depending on context.
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.