contented
content
gratified
pleased
satisfied
contradict
contravene
controvert
deny
disprove
arrogant or impudent pride that is expressed in rude behavior: the prima donna’s insolent remarks about the director’s ineptness. Where someone might be justified in feeling contemptuous or scornful of something — or even disdainful — insolent always indicates a peremptory or overweening grandiosity. Audacious applies to reckless behavior that is conspicuous and outrageous: His audacious manners are an effrontery to good taste.
Supercilious indicates a haughty or affected manner that is so excessive or unfounded as to become pompous or ridiculous: supercilious flattery; a plain-spoken man who was contemptuous of her supercilious airs and grand gestures. The word comes from the Latin for eyebrow; raised eyebrows are often characteristic of a supercilious expression. See
CONCEITED, HOSTILE, OVERBEARING.
Antonyms: considerate, humble, polite, respectful, reverent.
These words refer to the appeasement of need or desire. Contented refers to the fulfilling of requirements to the point of satiation: contented cows; She pampered him so that he would feel thoroughly contented. By contrast, content almost exclusively appears as a predicate adjective and suggests, not the full or complete filling of needs or desire, but the willingness to accept a modest or reasonable amount: peasants who were thought to be content with their humble station in life; The reporter tried to feel content with the brief interview he was granted.
Satisfied is closer to contented than to content in suggesting complete appeasement of need or desire: gorging himself until he felt almost uncomfortably satisfied. The word contrasts with contented in that the latter may more often refer to a state of mind akin to complacency, whereas satisfied more often suggests the filling of a particular need: dull, contented faces; satisfied about his score on on the exam.
Gratified suggests unambiguous joy in the fulfilling of a need or desire; in this it is more intense than either satisfied or contented: a longing for excitement that was only fully gratified when he moved to the big city. Gratified can also function in a wider range than the other words, suggesting happiness at a well-executed task, role, or duty: gratified at the way her students took up the challenges she laid down for them. Pleased is less intense than gratified and is the vaguest of these words; it may suggest less demanding needs or desires to begin with: pleased with the refreshing simplicity of her light snack. It would seldom suggest, in fact, that a question of satiation exists, and may have more to do with the expression of mild approval: She was pleased at the courteous way in which he addressed her. See cheerful, comfort, joyous.
Antonyms: discontent, frustrated, malcontent, miserable.
These words refer to the rejection of a previous statement by argument or evidence. Contradict may indicate no more than disagreement with a statement: He flatly contradicted her assertion that he was too lazy to mow the lawn. In this case, no attempt at proof may be involved. The word also applies to an obvious discrepancy between statements or things, where no proof is necessary: parents who contradict each other when giving orders to their children. [The findings of the two studies contradict each other; His voting record contradicts his claim to be a liberal.] In its widest application, deny can point to something refused or withheld: denying his request for a weekend pass; Substandard schools deny children the chance to learn. In the context of disputes, deny often suggests the specific situation of giving a negative answer to a
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charge or accusation: The treasurer hotly denied any misappropriation of funds.
Gainsay is a more formal word that is now rarely used in speech; it does suggest that someone gives vocal dissent to an opinion or accusation, perhaps arbitrarily, tersely, or abruptly, without supporting arguments: her habit of gainsaying anything he suggested. The word most often appears now with a negative: arguments for an appeal that not even the most cautious judge could gainsay, new evidence that simply could not be gainsaid. Here, something is presented as so convincing or conclusive that an arbitrary rejection is not possible. Oppose is far less formal in tone than gainsay and applies widely beyond the context of dispute or argument. It can suggest unreasoning enmity to a position, with no attempt to argue or present evidence: They still opposed the new theory despite all the corroborating facts mustered in its defense. Oppose can also suggest reasoned disagreement: the superior skill that Lincoln revealed in opposing Douglas’s arguments.
Contravene can function like contradict when it points to a discrepancy between statements or things, especially where one entity conflicts with another: No law can stand that contravenes the Bill of Rights. In terms of argument, the word may point to an attempt to overthrow a whole trend of thought by making telling points: a speech in which he marshaled every available argument that might help him to contravene the objections to the bill’s passage.
The previous words are mainly concerned with situations in which one statement is at odds with another. The remaining words all can indicate the situation in which a statement or position is demolished by facts or evidence. Disprove is the most forceful of these, indicating that a statement, proposition, theory, or even something accepted as a fact has been demonstrated as untrue by countering evidence: explorers who disproved the notion that the world was flat; He denied her assertion, but couldn’t disprove it. When two scientific theories contradict each other, for example, further investigation will disprove one or the other or both, whether in whole or in part. Controvert, a more formal word, points to someone who opposes a given view and wishes to disprove it by offering evidence: His opponents searched the data given in his report, hoping to find inconsistencies by which they could controvert his findings. When contrasted with contravene, the emphasis of controvert falls more heavily on proof: However much they contravened his conclusions, they could not controvert them. Refute can suggest the successful demolishing of an argument by reasoning alone, but it applies even more forcefully when supporting evidence is suggested: They refuted his claim of innocence with eyewitness testimony. See compete.
Antonyms: affirm, agree, corroborate, maintain, uphold.
These words describe statements, opinions, concepts, methods, or emotions that are incompatible. The term contradictory refers to things that mutually exclude each other, so that both cannot exist in the same object at the same time, as life and death. In formal logic, two statements are contradictory if they cannot both be true and cannot both be false. In other words, the statements are so related that if one is true the other must be false, as I am an American and I am not an American. Contrary statements, on the other hand, cannot both be true, but they can both be false, as I am an Italian and I am a Frenchman. The falsity of either contrary proves nothing about the other, but the truth of one establishes the falsity of the other. In a general sense, contrary points to
contradict
(continued)
gainsay
oppose
refute
contradictory
conflicting
contrary
opposed
opposite
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