Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adverb From a contrasting point of view.
  • adverb In the opposite way or reverse order.
  • adverb In a perverse manner.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • On the contrary; oppositely; on the other hand.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adverb On the contrary; oppositely; on the other hand.
  • adverb In a contrary order; conversely.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adverb in the contrary or opposite way, order, or direction
  • adverb on the other hand

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adverb contrary to expectations
  • adverb with the order reversed
  • adverb in a contrary disobedient manner

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

contrary +‎ -wise

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