contrarian
/kənˈtɹɛ.ɹi.ən/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.63 in modern English
12
Scrabble Score
10
Letters
4
Syllables
7
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A person who likes or tends to express a contradicting viewpoint, especially from one held by a majority of people, usually because of nonconformity or spite.
noun
A financial investor who tends to have an opinion of market trends at variance with most others.
adj
Liking or tending to express a contradicting viewpoint, especially from one held by a majority of people.
Example Sentences
- "Christopher [Hitchens] is bored by the epithet contrarian, which has been trailing him around for a quarter of a century. What he is, in any case, is an autocontrarian: he seeks not just the most difficult position, but the most difficult position for Christopher Hitchens."
- "[Søren] Kierkegaard had no university career, and [Friedrich] Nietzsche was a professor of Greek and Roman philology who had to retire because of ill health. Both were individualists, and both were contrarians by nature, dedicated to making people uncomfortable."
- "Hello, he lied / Like velvet, this magician's sleight of tongue and hand / Hello, he lied / Beware, belie his smile / As warm and calculated as heroin / Beware the contrarian"
- "[T]o succeed as a contrarian, you have to be able to time trades in exactly the opposite direction of the majority. This means you have to move in when everyone else is fearful, and step back when everyone else is euphoric. This advice is easier to give than to follow, so contrarians are not just good at timing. They also are highly disciplined and able to set and follow rules for themselves that fly in the face of what the majority thinks."
- "The second part [of the book] explores the normative forms of adolescent resistance and contrarian behavior that vex parents and teachers alike. This discussion is within the context of chapters that look at the ways in which parenting and teaching for moral development can positively make use of these normative challenges."
- "I began with the problem that I did not have enough confidence in what I had to say. Then I discovered that there could never be a single "I" who could speak for me, I could only communicate an aspect of myself: sometimes more friendly, sometimes more contrarian."
Etymology
Etymology tree English contrary Proto-Indo-European *-nós Proto-Italic *-nos Proto-Italic *-ānos Latin -ānus Old French -ainder. Middle English -an English -an English libertarianinflu. English contrarian From contrary + -an (suffix forming agent nouns; and meaning of or pertaining to forming adjectives), modelled after words like libertarian.
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /kənˈtɹɛ.ɹi.ən/
- British English: /kənˈtɹɛə.ɹi.ən/