1,400 new words in our dictionary! — Parasocial, glow-up, promposal & more
1,400 new words in our dictionary! — More

contrariness

noun

Definition of contrarinessnext
1
as in rebellion
refusal to obey cursed the contrariness of her beloved mutt when it refused to come back inside the house

Synonyms & Similar Words

Relevance

Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in opposition
the quality or state of being as different as possible a contrariness between his professed altruism and his blatant selfishness

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of Synonyms for contrariness
  1. rebellion
  2. opposition
  3. defiance
  4. polarity
  5. willfulness
  6. rebelliousness
Noun
  • Meanwhile, Yudkowsky took such tropes of rebellion and rule-breaking and built a philosophical apparatus around them.
    — Jay Caspian Kang, New Yorker, 15 Sep. 2026
  • The Uprising’s final act does get unwieldy, as the director tries to show just how the rebellion was betrayed.
    — Bilge Ebiri, Vulture, 11 Sep. 2026
Definition of rebellion
Noun
  • Now, with growing bipartisan opposition to the rapid buildout of data centers suggest that even ordinary residents of communities and voters have increased power to help pace the frontier from the bottom up.
    — Bhaskar Chakravorti, Fortune, 20 Sep. 2026
  • Ukraine's latest drone strikes took place on the final day of Russia’s first wartime parliamentary election — balloting that has been virtually devoid of opposition to President Vladimir Putin’s policies.
    — Eric Mack, FOXNews.com, 20 Sep. 2026
Definition of opposition
Noun
  • This defiance can be thought of as a refusal to feel shame—or, at least, as the confidence to believe that the shamers are wrong.
    — Jay Caspian Kang, New Yorker, 15 Sep. 2026
  • This, itself, is the ultimate act of defiance in the face of America’s neverending frontier.
    — Emily Temple, Literary Hub, 8 Sep. 2026
Definition of defiance
Noun
  • At about 230 kelvin, or minus 45 degrees Fahrenheit, the researchers found that strain could change the polarity of this Hall signal.
    — Neetika Walter, Interesting Engineering, 12 Aug. 2026
  • The weaponization of frontier AI flips that polarity, reducing the mean time to discovery of infrastructure vulnerabilities and the potential of accelerating data exfiltration from weeks and days to hours and minutes.
    — Will Townsend, Forbes.com, 7 Aug. 2026
Definition of polarity
Noun
  • From grandmother to grandchild, these three sets of two sisters were powerful characters possessed with passion, willfulness, bravery, and devotion to each other.
    — Griffin Dunne, Vanity Fair, 11 Sep. 2026
  • Those leaders who ignore or flout the law aren’t merely unethical but fatally arrogant, putting their childish willfulness over the wisdom of generations.
    — David Brooks, The Atlantic, 25 Mar. 2026
Definition of willfulness
Noun
  • Whether writing five decades ago or today, the genre’s most insightful commentators have always observed how punk fuses rebelliousness with commodification, capitalism with resistance.
    — Kyle Devine, Longreads, 14 July 2026
  • Marji’s rebelliousness, both admirable and terrifying for those who love her, is her salient characteristic.
    — Hillary Chute, The Atlantic, 9 June 2026
Definition of rebelliousness
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Browse Nearby Words

contrarily
contrariness
contrariwise
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Contrariness.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/contrariness. Accessed 21 Sep. 2026.

Copy Citation
Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

More from Merriam-Webster

Word of the Day

Listen to the pronunciation of elegiac

See Definitions and Examples »

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See More

Why do we use apostrophes to show possession?

Merriam-Webster’s Great Big List of Words You Love to Hate

The Exceptions of '-s' and '-es' Plurals

A Who’s Who Regarding ‘Who’s’ and ‘Whose’

'A' or 'an'? What about before 'h'? An Indefinite Article Guide
See More

Popular in Wordplay

See More

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't

Back to School Vocabulary

Words from the 'Odyssey'

14 Phobias You Probably Haven't Heard Of

The Words of the Week - Sept. 18
See More

Popular

See More

Why do we use apostrophes to show possession?

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't

Back to School Vocabulary
See More

Games & Quizzes

See All
Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries. Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.
Quordle Can you solve 4 words at once?
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.
Blossom Pick the best words!
Play Missing Letter: a crossword with a twist. Each of the 25 puzzle words start with a different letter of the alphabet. Which letter is missing?
The Missing Letter A daily crossword with a twist
crayons-in-a-circle
Guess the Color Quiz Questions that use the whole box of crayons.
See All