# contradiction

Pronunciation: say "kon-truh-DIK-shuhn" US /ˌkɑːntɹəˈdɪkʃən/, UK /ˌkɒntɹəˈdɪkʃən/

## Noun

1. A logical inconsistency between two or more ideas, statements, or propositions.
   - Simple: A clash between two ideas or facts that cannot both be true.
   - _The report contained a glaring contradiction between its data and its conclusions._
   - _Critics pointed to several contradictions in the witness's testimony._
2. A statement that contradicts itself by claiming the same thing is both true and false, in the same sense and at the same time.
   - Simple: A statement that says something is both true and false at the same time.
   - _Saying that the box is empty and full at the same time is a contradiction._
   - _Philosophers treat "a married bachelor" as a textbook contradiction._
3. The act of contradicting; asserting the opposite of what someone else has stated.
   - Simple: The act of saying that something another person said is not true.
   - _He accepted the harsh review without contradiction._
   - _Her flat contradiction of the official account surprised the reporters._
4. A proposition that is false for every possible assignment of values to its variables.
   - Simple: A statement that is always false, no matter what values you put into it.
   - _The formula "P and not P" is a contradiction, false under every assignment of truth values._
   - _Each row of the truth table confirmed that the expression was a contradiction._

## Origin

This word came through Middle English and Old French from Latin contrādictiō, which comes from contrādīcō meaning "speak against."

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/contradiction (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).