1. Of words or propositions so related that both cannot be true and both cannot be false
   "‘perfect’ and ‘imperfect’ are contradictory terms"
    
2. Unable for both to exist or be true at the same time
   "Being asleep and awake are contradictory states";
   - mutually exclusive
    
3. In disagreement
   "contradictory attributes of unjust justice and loving vindictiveness"; "His self-contradictory statements confused the audience";
   - at odds, conflicting, self-contradictory
    
4. That confounds, contradicts or confuses
   "The contradictory results of the study puzzled the researchers";
   - confounding

1. Two propositions are contradictories if both cannot be true (or both cannot be false) at the same time
   "The statements 'All swans are white' and 'Some swans are not white' are contradictories"

Derived forms: contradictories

See also: antonymous, incompatible, inconsistent, unsupportive

Type of: logical relation

Encyclopedia: Contradictory