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contra

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contra¹

  • /ˈkɒntɹə/ UK
  • /ˈkɑntɹə/ US

Where it comes from

Ultimately from Latin contrā.

preposition

  1. Against; contrary or opposed to; in opposition or contrast to.

    Similar: against, anti

Opposite: for, pro

adverb more contra · most contra

  1. Contrary to something. […] it is useless to pray “Thy kingdom come” and vote contra or stay away from the polls; […]

noun contras

  1. A deal to swap goods or services.
  2. derogatory A conservative; originally tied to Nicaraguan counter-revolutionaries.
  3. attributive, often An entry (or account) that cancels another entry (or account). a contra position; a contra entry

    Similar: counterentry

  4. informal Any of the musical instruments in the contrabass range, e.g. contrabassoon, contrabass clarinet or, especially, double bass.
  5. A contra dance.
  6. New England, US, obsolete A country dance. Folk histories record that contras were gradually displaced by the introduction of the quadrille and the new couple dances.

verb contras

  1. no past, no present participle, participle, past To undo; to reverse. to contra a position (an entry)

Contra²

Where it comes from

Short for Spanish contrarrevolucionarios (“counter-revolutionaries”).

noun Contras

  1. A member of any of various rightist guerrilla groups violently opposing the socialist Sandinista government of Nicaragua and secretly funded by the United States government in the 1980s.

Thesaurus

Closest in meaning: contrary, opposed, counter, clearing, consideration, balancer, offset, compensation, matching, counterpart, exchange, combat, anti, counterparty, sed, cons

preposition

Opposite: for, pro

Translations

Every language

prep against, contrary or opposed to

Portuguêscontra
Deutschgegen, im Gegensatz zu, contra, anti, wider

adv contrary to something

Deutschgegen, im Gegensatz zu, contra, gegnerisch, gegengesetzt, entgegengesetzt
Românăîmpotrivă, contra
العربيةعَلَى اَلْعَكْس ʕalā l-ʕaks, عَلَى اَلنَّقِيض مِن ʕalā n-naqīḍ min, ضِد ḍid

noun (accounting) an entry (or account) that cancels another entry

DeutschGegenkonto, Gegenbuchung, Gegenposition, Gegenrechnung, Kreditseite

noun (dance) a contra dance

DeutschContra Tanz, Kontratanz

verb (accounting) to undo an entry

Deutschzurückbuchen, ristornieren, stornieren

noun guerrilla groups

Españolcontra
日本語コントラ
中文康特拉

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Cite this
MLA

"contra." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/contra. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

contra. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/contra

Chicago

"contra." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/contra.

BibTeX
@misc{contra_2026,
  title = {contra},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/contra},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}